Toy Soldier
by Kittyclaw
Summary: When Odd is captured by Xana, the gang realize they're going to need some help to get him back. But even with the help, can Odd be saved, or has he been lost to Xana forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is, the beginning of my first multi-chapter fic! (throws conffeti and stuff). Unlike most of my stories, this won't have any pairings in it (writing a long story is tuff enough with out adding love. Sorry my OddxAelita people). So anyway, here we go.**

Odd crouched behind a large rock, ears twitching as he listened for the approaching Blok. As it grew closer he lifted his arm, preparing a laser arrow. His leg muscles clenched and his tail wagged as the Blok continued its approach.

"You're all mine," Odd whispered, the corner of the Blok appearing around the stone. Just as the Blok rounded the rock, and Odd prepared to fire, a yell grabbed the attention of both. Ulrich came flying, landing on the Blok blade first and destroying it in a burst of data.

"Two out of three, Odd," Ulrich said, helping the shorter boy to his feet. "I believe this means you owe me five Euros."

_"You owe me my five as well," _Jeremy said, his voice echoing down from above.

"Hey, I would have had it if it wasn't for Ulrich jumping in," Odd defended, brushing himself off. "So I think that means I really won."

"Almost getting a hit and actually getting one are two different things," Ulrich said, sheathing his sword.

_"I hate to interrupt, but can you two have this discussion later?"_ Jeremy asked, _"Yumi and Aelita could use your help right about now."_

"Alright Jeremy," Ulrich said, "We're on our way." The pair then took off in the direction of the tower in the distance.

"I still say I should have won," Odd said as he ran. Beside him Ulrich shook his head.

"No, the deal was the person who got the higher number of kills won. I got the higher number."

"Only because you took the Blok I was about to get."

"Because you were taking too long to get it."

"Yeah, well-"

_"Hey Odd, I think I've found a way for you to redeem yourself. There are two monsters headed your way. O__ne is a hornet and the other is…__something I can't identify. So be careful."_

"I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle, so I'll take care of it," Odd said, sprinting ahead of Ulrich.

"Wait Odd, we shouldn't rush into fighting an unknown enemy," Ulrich said, but his words only met thin air- Odd was already long gone.

He had shot ahead quicker then Ulrich had expected, and had already encountered the first monster, the hornet. The Hornet didn't take long to catch sight of Odd, and immediately fired at him.

Odd dodged the laser with an overly flashy back flip, shooting at the Hornet while still upside-down. The Hornet wasn't quick enough to dodge, and was easily destroyed. Odd gave a whoop of joy, just as Ulrich arrived behind him.

"Odd, you shouldn't just run ahead like that when we don't know what we're up against," he scolded. Odd stuck his tongue out.

"You're just worried that I'll beat you," he said, crossing his arms.

Ulrich gave a loud sigh, shaking his head. "No Odd, that's not…er, what is _that_?" he asked, taking a step back.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Odd asked. Ulrich silently pointed behind Odd. The cat like warrior turned to see what had Ulrich so speechless, and gasped in shock.

_"What's going on? What is it?"_ Jeremy asked, sounding worried. Both boys ignored his questions, to preoccupied with the sight before them.

It was like no monster they had seen before, almost twice the size of a Krabe and seven times more frightening. It had a head like that of wolf, but with a more stubby snout and no eyes. In their place was one large white eye of Xana, which stood out in stark contrast to the creatures black fur.

Its body was strangely disproportional, it's barrel of a chest twice as large as its puny hips. It was supported by four thick legs, the two in front almost three times the length of the ones in back. Each leg ended in a wide, clawed paw.

"What is that?" Odd asked, earning a little glare from Ulrich.

"All I care about is if we can defeat it or not," Ulrich said, drawing his swords and taking an offensive stance. Odd copied him, kneeling down and aiming his arrow launcher.

"Laser arrow!" he shouted, firing at the monster. The monster dodged that attack, springing away from the arrow with unexpected agility. Odd continued to fire after it, but the monster continued to run, staying one step ahead of the attacks.

"It's too fast, I can't hit it," Odd called, dropping his arm and leaping back to stand beside Ulrich. The taller boy just grinned.

"Maybe he's too fast for you," Ulrich said, drawing his other sword, "but not too fast for me. Supersprint!" Ulrich shot off in a yellow blur, launching himself at the monster. He swung his swords around and stabbed them towards the creatures glowing eye. The swords were only inches from their mark when the monster reacted, swinging up a massive paw and knocking Ulrich away.

Ulrich hit the ground with a bang, bouncing once and sliding some before coming to a stop.

_"Ulrich, what just happened?" _Jeremy shouted, _"You just lost 20 life points! What is going on?"_

"Jeremy, we're going to need some help here," Ulrich said, climbing to his feet as Odd took his turn at the monster.

_"Alright, I'm getting Yumi to come back and help."_

"Make sure she hurries!" Odd called, running around the monster to try and attack it from behind. With a shout he leapt at the creature, firing at its eye. A few of the shots landed, but not near enough to the eye to cause any real damage.

In fact, all the attack really seemed to do was anger the monster. It let out a roar as the arrows hit it, swinging a paw around as it tried to knock Odd from the sky.

"Odd, watch out!" Ulrich shouted, just as the paw caught Odd in the side, throwing him to the ground. The monster roared happily as Odd bounced against the ground, pouncing after him. It landed over top of him, using its paw to pin the boy to the ground. Odd cried out as he was crushed under the heavy weight.

"Let him go!" Ulrich shouted, lunching himself at the monster, swords drawn. The monster's ears twitched, and its head swung toward Ulrich. Its bottom jaw dropped open, revealing a large cannon, which fired a glowing blue laser right at Ulrich's chest. The shot knocked the warrior from the sky.

_"Ulrich, you've only got thirty life points left!"_ Jeremy shouted, his voice tense with worry. _"Another hit like that, and you're done for."_

"I know Jeremy," Ulrich shouted at the sky, "but that thing has Odd!" The thing in question had turned its attention away from Ulrich and back to Odd as it aimed its cannon at the trapped warrior.

"Uh, nice doggie," Odd said, clawing at the paw on his chest. "Hey Ulrich, a little help here would be appreciated!" Ulrich felt panic welling in his chest as he tried to think of something to do.

_No you useless beast _a strange, mechanical voice suddenly shouted, causing the monster to halt its attack. _I told you to bring him to me! Now get him and leave, before the others return._

The monster closed its jaws with a snap, straightening up. It gave Ulrich a final look, then turned towards the edge of the desert plateau. Ulrich could see the thought forming in the creatures face.

"Don't even think about it!" he shouted, sheathing his swords and sprinting towards the monster. It just gave him a terrifying grin and, with a mighty swipe of its claws, tossed Odd over the edge of the plateau.

"No, ODD!" Ulrich screamed. He grabbed one of his swords and launched it at the falling boy, hoping to devirtualize him; but the monster leapt in front of the attack, following Odd over the edge. "ODD!" Ulrich screamed again as a column of light burst up, signaling the pair's devirtualization at the hands of the virtual sea. A similar scream came from the sky as Jeremy watched his friend's info disappear from the computer's screen.

Ulrich knelt at the edge of the plateau, looking into the sea for any sign of his friend. Not so much as a ripple gave away the fact that two beings had just been lost to the peaceful looking sea. A small gasp drew Ulrich's attention away from the sight below him. He looked up to see Yumi, a look of shock and horror across her face. She saw Ulrich's expression and gasped again, shaking her head.

"He…he's not gone?" she whispered, the question less of a statement and more of a plead. Ulrich just turned back to the sea, unable to respond.

"Tower deactivated," came Aelita's calm voice, echoing over the sector and announcing another defeat of Xana. Jeremy's voice was much less collected as he announced the return to the past.

**(gaspness) There we go, the first chapter. The rest are all ready to go, so the next chapter will be up tomorrow. Oh, and the monster I have introduced has no name. If you decide to review, I would love for you to give me some ideas (please do. I don't think you want to deal with reading 'the monster, thing, creature, it for the next like, nine chapters).**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we go, the second chapter. And here is a thanks to tweetytwit, who provided my poor monster with a real name. Thank you, and hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

Ulrich groaned as he rolled over in his bed, pulling his blanket over his head. For a moment he lay in the bliss of the knowledge that it was a Sunday. But that bliss was short lived as the memories of the events before the return trip came flooding back.

"Odd!" Ulrich called, sitting up and looking over at his friend's bed. He was horrified to see that it was empty. "No," he whispered, continuing to stare in shock. He sat like that for a few moments, before a knock on his door disturbed him.

"Ulrich, it's me!" came Aelita's distraught sounding voice, "Open up!" Ulrich quickly leapt from his bed, pulling his door open and jumping out of the way as Aelita shot past him, followed closely by Jeremy. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth when she caught sight of Odd's unused bed.

"He's…he's…" Aelita couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, instead turning and fleeing from the room. Jeremy remained behind, just staring at Odd's bed open mouthed. Slowly he lowered himself down on Ulrich's bed. Ulrich couldn't bring himself to look at the bed again, instead looking down at the floor as he lowered himself down beside Jeremy.

For awhile they just sat together in silence, taking comfort from the other's presence. Eventually Ulrich let out a sigh, letting his head drop into his hands.

"I can't believe he's gone," he whispered.

"Me either," Jeremy said, turning to Ulrich. He watched his friend's morose look for a moment, and then stood up. "Um, if you wanted some time alone, I could go…" he said, taking a step towards the door. A tug on his sleeve held him back, and he looked back down at Ulrich questioningly. Ulrich didn't say anything, just shook his head.

"Okay," Jeremy whispered, sitting back down. He sat with his hands in his lap, feeling slightly awkward. After a moment he raised an arm and put it tentatively around the other boy's shoulders. Ulrich surprised him by leaning slightly into the embrace.

They sat like that together for a long while, watching sadly as Kiwi awoke and began nosing through the blankets of Odd's bed, searching for an owner he hadn't realized wasn't coming home.

--

Yumi awoke with a start as a certain memory came rushing back to her. With a gasp she flung herself out of bed and tore about her room as she threw on her clothes. Hardly a minute later she was sprinting though her house and out the front door, only pausing long enough to grab her phone and shout a quick message to her mother saying she was heading to school.

As she ran down the familiar path towards Kadic, she fought to keep her thoughts from overwhelming her. 'I'm sure Ulrich got to him in time,' she assured herself, cutting though the forest. 'He just looked upset because it was such a close call. That's all. I'm going to get to school and Odd will be running around complaining that he's hungry. I'm sure of it.'

Yumi was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed the pink smudge among the brown and green of the forest. Skidding to halt Yumi quickly backtracked. She found herself facing Aelita, the pink haired girl curled up at the base of a tree with her face pressed against her knees. She didn't notice Yumi's approach until the older girl knelt down beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Aelita looked up with a small start, quickly wiping at her red eyes. When she realized who her visitor was her eyes began to tear up again.

"He didn't make it, did he?" Yumi asked quietly. Aelita shook her head sadly. She then latched on to Yumi, burying her face in the other girls shoulder. Yumi held the sobbing girl as her own tears began to make themselves known, and together the two girls mourned their lost friend.

--

It was almost an hour later when the two girls felt ready to rejoin the school without causing any suspicion. And so they walked together towards the cafeteria, deciding to get a late breakfast, hoping they would find the boys there as well. Thankfully Ulrich and Jeremy were there, sitting it the group's usual table. So Aelita and Yumi quickly grabbed some food and joined them. They took their seats across from the two boys, each silently noting the uneaten condition of their food.

"So I guess Aelita told you," Ulrich said quietly to Yumi. She nodded, poking at her own food.

"Yes, she did. Not hungry?" she asked, pointing to Ulrich's untouched food.

"Not really. Although, we were waiting for you to join us."

Aelita gave a small smile. "How gentlemanly of you," she said, also poking at her food.

"Yeah, well, Einstein here came up with something I thought you might like to hear," Ulrich said, smiling some and poking Jeremy.

"Really?" Yumi asked, "What is it?" Jeremy took a deep breath, exchanging a look with Ulrich before beginning.

"Well, Ulrich and I were talking about what happened with Odd on Lyoko. Ulrich mentioned that before the strange monster…took Odd, he heard a voice tell the Wulf-"

"Wulf?" Aelita asked, looking confused.

"It's what we're calling the thing that took Odd," Ulrich told her. Jeremy nodded.

"So, as I was saying," he continued, "Ulrich heard a voice tell the Wulf to bring Odd to it. And that's when it took him into the virtual sea. I think that maybe the voice wanted Odd alive, so…"

"So you think there's a chance that Odd wasn't devirtualized for good?" Aelita finished, perking up. Jeremy nodded.

"Really?" Yumi shouted, startling a few people and earning the table a few confused stares. "Really?" Yumi repeated quietly. Again, Jeremy nodded. "And let me guess, you think Xana is behind this."

"You got it."

"Not that I don't believe you," Aelita said, "but what would Xana want with Odd?"

"I don't know," Jeremy said with a shrug. "But whatever it is, we can be sure it's nothing good."

"You got that right," Ulrich said.

"So what do we do?" Yumi asked. Again, Jeremy shrugged.

"For now, there's nothing we can do. We just have to wait and see what happens next."

--

The group didn't have to wait long. It was less than two hours later when Xana made his next move.

Jeremy was sitting at his computer, not really doing much of anything, when the familiar alarm went off. Looked like Xana had activated another tower. Jeremy grabbed his cell phone and punched in Ulrich's number. It barely rang once before Ulrich answered.

_"What's up Jeremy?" _Ulrich asked, _"Is it Xana?"_

"Yes, he's activated another tower. Get Yumi and Aelita and…well, that's strange."

_"What? What happened?"_

"The activated tower was just…deactivated," Jeremy said, squinting at the screen in case he was just misreading something. Nope, the tower was deactivated.

"Um, never mind Ulrich. I'll just head down to the factory and…wait," Jeremy said, staring it his computer. "Another tower's been activated."

_"What's going on?"_ Ulrich asked, _"Is something wrong with your computer?"_

"No, it should be fine. Get Yumi and Aelita and meet me at the factory. We need to get a better look at what's going on."

_"Alright, see you at the factory."_

--

Ulrich hung up his phone and turned to the two girls seated on the bench behind him.

"Jeremy needs us at the factory," he told them as he began heading for the woods.

"What's going on?" Yumi asked as she and Aelita jumped up to follow him. Ulrich shrugged as he slowed slightly, letting them catch up with him.

"No idea. According to Jeremy's computer, Xana activated a tower. But then a minute later, he deactivated it again. Then activated another one."

"That's strange, even for Xana," Yumi said. Aelita nodded.

"If he wants to attack us, he has to stay with one tower for the whole attack," she said, "He must have something else planned."

"We'll find out for sure soon enough," Ulrich said, reaching the manhole that lead to their sewer path to Lyoko. He lifted it up and kept watch as Aelita and Yumi jumped down. Then, with a final glance around, he disappeared as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter three!**

Jeremy was already at the computer, typing away when the elevator arrived, dropping his three friends out.

"Hey guys," he said, not looking away from the screen. "That was fast."

"Uh, yeah," Ulrich said, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Jeremy looked like he had been at the factory for a few minutes at the least, and they had been fast? Ulrich shrugged off the comment and came to stand behind Jeremy, leaning against the blonde's chair. "Any idea what Xana's up to yet?"

Jeremy shook his head. "None. He's still jumping between towers, which doesn't make any sense. He can't attack us that way."

"That's what Aelita told us," Yumi said, standing next to Ulrich.

"Do you think it's some kind of evasive thing?" Ulrich asked, "Maybe Xana thinks that by jumping between towers he can confuse us and have you send us to the wrong sector."

"No, I don't think that's it," Jeremy said. "He's following a pattern. I don't think that's what he would do if he wanted to confuse us. Besides, he's not just hiding in the towers. He's taking information from them."

"What for?" Aelita asked curiously. Jeremy shrugged.

"No clue. But I'm sure whatever it is, it won't be good for us."

"So why don't we go to Lyoko and stop him?" Ulrich asked.

"What could you do?" Jeremy asked, turning to look at his friend. "Xana keeps jumping from tower to tower so fast that, by the time I send you to one sector, he'd be in the next one. And yes, you could wait to intercept him when he returned, but how would you attack him? He isn't a physical being for you to see and fight. He's just data that's entering the tower."

"So what do we do?" Yumi asked.

"For now, nothing."

"Nothing?" Ulrich said, "For all we know, Xana is putting together his most dangerous plan yet, and you want us to do nothing!?"

"Yes, I do," Jeremy said, his voice firm. "It's like you said- 'for all we know'. We don't know that much. And even if we did, we still can't do anything about it yet. Sending you three to Lyoko would only put you in danger, and personally I don't think this group needs to lose any more members."

The look in Jeremy's eyes silenced any further argument from Ulrich. This resulted in a rather awkward silence among the group.

"So, Jeremy," Yumi said, not liking the silence. "You said that Xana was traveling around the towers in a pattern. What did you mean?" Jeremy gave Yumi a small smile, thankful for the change of topic, and turned back to his computer.

"You know how the towers are arranged, fifteen to a sector, in straight lines all pointing the Carthage, with the last tower in Carthage itself, right?" Jeremy's question was met with blank stares. "Well they are," he said. "Xana started with one of the towers at the edge of Lyoko and moved in a circle around the four end towers. Then he moved on the next row, like in a spiral. I assume he'll go Carthage last."

"So how does this help us?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm not sure. Although, it did lead me to find something that supports my theory about Odd being captured."

"Really?" three voices asked in unison, their owners becoming immediately becoming more attentive.

"How?" Ulrich asked. Jeremy began tapping away at his keyboard again.

"I was wondering why Xana might leave Carthage till last, so I decided to take a look at the sector," he said, pulling up the holographic image of Lyoko's hub sector. What the image showed had everyone gasping. "I thought you might be able to tell me what it was."

"Jeremy, that's a Guardian," Aelita whispered, staring at the great orange sphere that encircled Carthage.

"You mean those monsters that trapped you and Yumi?" Jeremy asked. Yumi nodded.

"The very same, although those ones were only big enough to hold a single person. That thing is enormous!"

"Maybe this thing is why Xana's going around all the towers," Ulrich suggested. "He needs to find a way around it." Jeremy shook his head.

"I don't think so. Xana does control the Guardians, after all. No I think this Guardian, while bigger, is doing just like the other ones did. It's got someone trapped inside it."

"Odd!" Aelita said. Jeremy nodded.

"Exactly. I think that Xana has…uh, what is he doing?"

"What?" Ulrich asked, "What is who doing?"

"It's Xana," Jeremy said, all his attention focused on the computer. "He's been in that tower longer then he should have been. I think he's realized that we're watching him."

"So does this mean we have a tower to deactivate?" Ulrich asked; sounding, in Jeremy's opinion, a bit too excited.

"Yes. Get down to the scanner rooms, I'll send you to the tower. And guys," he added as the group headed for the elevator. "Be careful." He gave them a meaningful look.

"Don't worry Jeremy, we will be," Aelita assured him. Yumi and Ulrich nodded in agreement, and then the three disappeared into the elevator.

The small group rode down to the scanner room in silence, Jeremy's parting words hanging heavy over them. Eventually the elevator banged to stop, jolting the trio from their thoughts. They spilled out of the machine, each heading for a scanner and climbing in.

_"Ready?"_ Jeremy asked, his voice echoing strangely in the scanners.

"Yes Jeremy," Aelita said.

"Whenever you're ready Einstein."

_"Alright. Transfer Aelita. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi."_

Ulrich took a deep breath as the familiar rush of air burst from the floor of the scanner, blowing his hair back.

_"Scanner."_

He could feel the machine scanning him, reading who he was and preparing the proper form for Lyoko.

_"Virtualization."_

Ulrich shut his eyes as a stronger burst of air hit him and he felt his body being pulling apart and sucked into the world of Lyoko.

**Okay, there it is. Just wanted to point out how I didn't have Jeremy say everyone's names when he said Scanner. I'm taking some creative license here, because I have parts where I feel like all those names kinda mess with the flow of action. And I know today was short, but you get some (longer) action tomorrow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**It's 12:43, so I figure I can post the next chapter now (technically, it is tomorrow...or, today. Whatever). It's page longer then the last chapter and with more action! Enjoy.**

Ulrich landed in a crouch, Yumi and Aelita falling next to him.

"Alright Jeremy, we're here," he said, standing up and looking around the mountain sector. "Where's the tower?"

_"Due west of your position." _Jeremy's voice said, booming down from the sky.

The group shared a look, confirming everyone was present and ready, then as one they began to run in the direction of the tower. After a while Yumi spoke up.

"You know, things are strangely quiet around here," she said, looking around the rather empty mountain region.

_"Yumi, you spoke to soon. You've got five hornets headed your way."_

"Great, just what we need," Ulrich grumbled, grabbing his swords. He and Yumi took up places slightly ahead and to either side of Aelita. "Ready Yumi?" he asked as the hornets begin to appear through the mist. Yumi just gave him a grin in response and shot ahead, launching her first fan. It took out the hornet on the far left of the group, alerting the others to her presence. Yumi flipped out of the way as they began to fire on her and Ulrich.

Ulrich swung his sword around, blocking the hornets' attacks and trying to send them back at the flying monsters. One laser hit its mark, the unlucky hornet exploding in a burst of light. Just as Ulrich was celebrating his success, a laser found its way through his defenses, knocking him to the ground.

Off to the left Yumi also took a hit, getting thrown dangerously close to the edge of the thin rocky path.

"Yumi, watch out!" Ulrich shouted, noticing the hornet bearing down on the girl. Yumi saw it too, and launched her fan at it. At the same moment the hornet fired a laser, and the two attacks met in midair, canceling out. But Yumi's second fan was right behind the first, and it cut through the hornet easily.

"It's alright Ulrich, I got it," Yumi said, standing up and retrieving her fans. Ulrich gave her a small smile, glad she was okay. The smile disappeared quickly though, as a second hornet appeared behind Yumi, firing at her.

"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted, launching himself forward. The hit had knocked Yumi to the very edge of the path, and she was swinging her arms wildly in an attempt not to fall. Before Ulrich could get there to pull her to safety, another shot from the hornet had Yumi falling over the edge and through the fog below.

Yumi heard Ulrich shout her name as she tried to think of a way to stop her dangerous plummet. Unable to come up with anything she tensed, preparing herself for the fall into the virtual sea she knew was coming. But instead of the splash and the feeling of all your data being pulled apart that she was expecting, she landed rather hard on what was unmistakably land.

Yumi felt a few of her life points drained away from the painful landing, but really couldn't bring herself to care. She was too happy about still being alive.

_"Yumi!" _Jeremy's voice shouted, sounding strained. _"Yumi, are you alright?"_

"Yes Jeremy. I've felt better, but I'm alright. I landed on a platform lower down."

_"That's good," _Jeremy said, and Yumi could hear a sigh with the words. _"Just be careful now. You've only got twenty life points left."_

"Alright Jeremy. I'll just-" Yumi paused, a loud thud from behind getting her attention. She turned slowly; facing whatever it was that was behind her.

_"Yumi, __what's going on?" _Jeremy asked. _"Something just appeared behind you."_

"I know," Yumi said, "It's the monster that took Odd."

The Wulf watched Yumi through its eye, giving a low growl. Yumi took a step back from it, tossing one of her fans at the monster. She was shocked when it just jumped up and grabbed the fan in its jaws, destroying the weapon with a crunch. The Wulf then turned back to Yumi and let its jaws fall open, revealing its cannon. Yumi tried to dodge the attacks, and was able to get away from the first two lasers. But the third one found its mark, and with an angry shout Yumi was devirtualized.

--

"Jeremy, is Yumi alright?" Ulrich asked, sounding slightly panicked.

_"She didn't fall into the virtual sea, if that's what you mean," _Jeremy said, _"But she was just devirtualized. She was attacked b__y the Wulf__. And __now__ i__t'__s headed your way!"_ Jeremy finished with a shout, just as loud thud got Ulrich's attention.

The Wulf had jumped up to the path that Ulrich and Aelita were on, and was now making its way towards the pair.

"What should we do?" Aelita asked, stepping up beside Ulrich. The samurai like warrior watched the monster approach, trying to think of a plan.

"Aelita, I'll get the Wulf's attention," he said, deciding that this was the only thing he could do. "Once it's distracted, you make a dash for the tower. I'll hold it off as long as I can."

Aelita gave Ulrich an unsure look, and for a moment it looked like she might argue. But a glare from Ulrich made her hold her tongue. "Alright," she said with a sigh, "but be careful."

Ulrich gave her a nod. "Now get ready to go. As soon as I get the Wulf's attention, you head for the tower. Got it?" Aelita nodded. Ulrich watched her a moment longer, then turned back to the monster.

"Hey!" he shouted, causing it to look his way. "Come and get me!" Ulrich then ran towards the Wulf. He had to weave back and forth to avoid the lasers being fired at him, but he made it up to the monsters legs. With a shout he stabbed his sword through one of the creature's black paws, pulling the sword free and running to the left. The Wulf screamed, pulling its paw up and looking at. It then turned and went after Ulrich.

The boy was looking for a quick escape from his pursuer, which presented itself in a small platform hovering a little ways below the path Ulrich was currently on. With a glance back at the approaching Wulf, Ulrich leap towards the platform. He was about halfway to it when he felt a laser hit him in the back. It propelled him forward, causing him to slam into the platform and slide towards the edge.

Ulrich realized where he was heading and swung his sword around, digging it into the ground. The sword caught and held just as Ulrich felt his legs swing over the edge of the platform. Ulrich sighed as he came to a stop, resting his head against his arms. His moment of peace was short lived though, as the platform gave a frightening shake.

The Wulf had followed him, and now crouched on the little piece of floating land, its cannon aimed at Ulrich. With no place to go, Ulrich had no choice but to take the shot, and prey that Aelita got to the tower in time.

--

During all of this, Aelita was finding herself with some trouble of her own.

The moment Ulrich had charged the monster Aelita had activated her wings and shot into the air. She had gotten past the monster, and was headed for the tower glowing in the distance when a little fact made itself known. There were still two hornets left.

Aelita hadn't even realized they were behind her until the first laser hit her. She dropped some; but didn't fall out of the sky as she turned to confront her attackers. The two hornets immediately began firing on her, not giving Aelita a chance to attack back as she weaved and swerved to dodge their laser fire.

She flew as fast as she could, quickly moving out of range of the hornets attacks. Once she was far enough away she spun around, preparing her attack.

"Energy field!" she shouted, firing the two balls of energy at the little monsters. One attack hit its mark, but the other missed. Aelita turned back around and continued flying. The hornet behind her continued its pursuit, firing off the occasional shot. Just as Aelita was getting close to the tower one of the lasers got her.

It hit her in the back, knocking out her wings and sending her tumbling from the sky. She hit front first, but quickly rolled over at the sound of nearing wings.

"Energy field!" she shouted, launching her attack. This time it hit, blasting the hornet from the sky.

_"Are you alright Aelita?"_ Jeremy asked.

"I'm fine Jeremy. How's Ulrich doing?"

_"Not good, he was just devirtualized. You're on your own."_ Jeremy said. It wasn't what Aelita wanted to hear. _"Be careful," _Jeremy continued, _"You've only got forty life points left."_

"Okay. I'm almost to the tower," Aelita said, climbing to her feet and beginning to run for the structure just ahead of her. Just as she began to run the path beneath her feet shook, startling her.

"What was that..?" she asked, turning to look behind her. She immediately wished she hadn't. Xana's crazy new monster had caught up with her. The Wulf noticed her looking at it, and fired off a laser. Aelita yelped as she jumped away from the blast, then began running for the tower again. She could hear the Wulf thudding along behind her, the heat of its lasers at her back.

Aelita was only feet from the tower now. A laser landed right beside her, but she ignored it, reaching her hands out. She was only inches away now. With a shout she leapt towards the tower, just as the monster fired another laser right behind her.

--

Yumi and Ulrich looked up as the last occupied scanner hissed open. Aelita was sitting inside it, looking slightly disoriented. When she noticed the others looking at her she sighed, banging her fist against the scanner's side.

"Sorry Jeremy, I couldn't get to the tower," she said, climbing out of the scanner.

_"It's okay Aelita," _Jeremy said, _"Xana left the tower right after you were devirtualized and moved onto the next one."_

"What?" Ulrich said, "What was he doing in that one for so long?"

_"Well, according to this," _Jeremy said, and everyone could picture him pointing to something on his screen, _"it looks like Xana took more data from this tower then he did the l__ast one. That's why he was there__ longer."_

"So it was just a false alarm?" Ulrich asked, sounding worn out.

_"Yeah, __sorry__ guys. Come on, let's head back to school. I'll keep an eye on Xana with my laptop while we have some lunch."_

**...wish I had some lunch, I'm hungery. And tired. Goodnight!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Enter the new guy. **

The gang sat at their usual table, heads bent together as they discussed the morning's events.

"Have we learned any more about what Xana is planning?" Ulrich asked, his chin resting on his folded hands. Jeremy shook his head, closing his laptop.

"Not really. Although, the closer he gets to sector five, the longer it takes him to finish with each tower. I'm not sure what that means, though. But there is something I have learned." Everyone leaned a little closer, waiting for Jeremy's announcement. "Three people on Lyoko are just not enough." The group sighed, leaning back in their seats.

"We noticed," Yumi said, "but what can we do about it? Until we find Odd, we don't have any more people."

"We could always add someone," Jeremy said. He raised his hands to cut off the immediate arguments. "I know we said we wouldn't tell anyone about Lyoko. But with how easily Xana was able to defeat the three of you, how do you ever plan on freeing Odd?" That brought some silence from the group.

"Who could we ask?" Yumi finally asked. It was Aelita that provided an answer.

"There's always William," she said. "He's already proved himself capable of helping us."

"He hasn't proved that he's capable of being trusted," Yumi argued quickly.

"He hasn't proved that he isn't."

Yumi looked around the group, looking slightly shocked. She hadn't expected everyone to agree with the idea so quickly. "You're serious? You all want William in our group?"

"It's not so much a matter of want as need," Jeremy said. Aelita nodded.

"We all saw how quickly that Wulf of Xana's took us all out. If we'd had someone else with us I would have been able to make it to the tower."

"Even if Aelita hadn't been able to deactivate it, we could have gotten an idea of what Xana was up too," Jeremy said. Yumi sighed, crossing her arms.

"Fine, I guess we do need someone else. So who's going to ask him?"

"You of course."

Yumi's glare could have melted ice, but all it did was make Ulrich grin. "You and him are friends. He'll be more likely to believe this crazy idea if it comes from you."

Yumi continued to glare, but even she had to admit that Ulrich had a point.

"Fine," she growled. "When do you want me to talk to him?"

"How about right now?" Jeremy said, motioning to William, who was eating a few tables away. Yumi turned her glare of death onto the blonde but, unable to think up a good reason not to, she stood up and headed over to William.

"Hi William, do you mind if I sit here?" she asked, resting her hand on the seat across from the boy. William, who looked a tad shocked by Yumi's arrival, just shook his head as Yumi plopped down into the seat. "Alright, William, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"What a coincidence," William said. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about as well. I had another dream about you last night."

"Is that so?" Yumi asked, shooting another glare in the direction of her friends. William nodded.

"Mm-hmm. It was strange, though. There was this giant computer in a huge room, like a factory, you know? And then you and I were both on this bridge, fighting against this factory worker who was doing these wild acrobatics."

"You really dreamed that?" Yumi asked, her full attention now on William.

"Yeah. I've been having that same dream for a really long time. It's totally weird. But then again, it's only a dream, and they're always a little bit weird, right?"

"William, that dream of yours is actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Yumi said, standing up. "Let's go for a walk. We have a lot to talk about."

--

"So, my dream, it really happened?" William asked, looking shocked. Yumi nodded. "And this Lyoko, I knew all about it too?"

"Not really," Yumi said. "We'd really only told you the basics- that Lyoko existed and Xana was bad."

"And you traveled back in time so I wouldn't remember any of it?"

"Right. But it looks like you do remember it, even if you thought it was only a dream." William, who had been listening to Yumi intently, turned to look at his hands.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. "The way I remember it, you guys didn't want me to be a part of all this." Now it was Yumi's turn to look at her hands.

"I know we didn't. But can you blame us? You can never be too sure about who to trust, not with Xana on the loose. But you proved that we can trust you. And besides, without Odd, we'll need the extra help."

"Without Odd?" William asked, looking up. "Why without him?"

"He…" Yumi paused, "We think he was kidnapped by Xana on Lyoko."

"Can you get him back?"

Yumi shrugged. "We don't know. Maybe. With some help." She turned to William, a hopeful look in her eyes. She could see William thinking it over, weighing his options carefully. After a few moments he gave a sigh.

"I guess if everything you've said is true, then I don't really have a choice. Just tell me what I can do to help."

--

Jeremy was typing away at his computer, nose glued to the screen when he heard the knock on the door.

"Ulrich, can you get that?"

Ulrich, who was sitting on Jeremy's bed reading, heaved a rather over dramatic sigh as he set down his book. Aelita giggled at his theatrics as Ulrich climbed noisily to his feet and shuffled over to the door.

"Hey Yumi," he said, pulling open the door and finding the familiar girl standing behind it. "I'm guessing William said yes?" he added, noticing the boy behind Yumi.

"Yes, he did." Yumi said, making her way into Jeremy's room and plopping comfortably onto his bed. William followed behind, looking a little more out of his element. "So, any idea when we can take him to Lyoko" Yumi asked, her question directed to the blonde at the computer.

"Yes, actually," Jeremy said, turning around. "We could go in a few minutes if you like. I'd really like a shot at finding out what Xana's up to. If we can get Aelita in the tower long enough to get into its memory, we could see exactly what it is Xana keeps taking from the towers."

"Sounds good to me," Ulrich said. "Think you can do it, Aelita?"

"As long as you can keep that monster distracted," she said with a nod, "then yes, I believe I can."

"Okay," Ulrich said, turning to William. "Think you're ready to see Lyoko?"

William nodded. "Totally."

--

"Are you sure this is safe?" William asked, looking a little less then confident. He was standing in one of the open scanners, Aelita and Ulrich in the ones on either side of him.

"Of course," Yumi said, "We've done this loads of times and nothing bad has ever happened to us."

"Well, there was that one time-" Ulrich started, but he was quickly silenced with a glare from Yumi.

"What? What happened?"

"Nothing William," Yumi said, turning back to him with a grin. "Alright Jeremy, they're ready!"

_"Okay. I'm starting the virtualization process now."_

"See you soon William," Yumi said, giving William a small wave as the scanner doors slid shut.

_"Transfer Ulrich,"_ Jeremy said, William jumping as the voice echoed around the scanner. To his left he could hear what sounded like a loud computer whir to life. _"Transfer Aelita."_ Another whir, this time to his right. _"Transfer William."_

William jumped again as his own scanner came to life with a burst of warm air from under his feet.

_"Scanner."_ A ring around the edge of the scanner slid down from the roof to the floor, glowing with a bright white light. When it finished, there was an even stronger burst of air, and the scanner filled with white light.

_"Virtualization." _


	6. Chapter 6

**Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This year I am giving thanks for the reviewers of this crazy story, and those of you who have this story on alert (I know who you are!) Anyway, here we have it, William's first trip to Lyoko! **

Ulrich and Aelita landed in graceful crouches on the slick ground of the ice sector. William landed between them, with a bit more of a thump.

"Sorry," Ulrich said, reaching out a hand to help William up. "We probably should have told you about the landing part."

_"Everyone okay?"_ Jeremy asked.

"Whoa, is Jeremy here too?" William asked, looking around in confusion.

"No, he's still in the lab," Aelita told him. "And yes Jeremy, we're all here."

_"Good, I'm sending Yumi now."_

"How is he doing that?" William asked, looking surprised.

"He can communicate with us from the computer in the factory," Ulrich said, looking around warily. The sound of someone being virtualized had him looking up and, two seconds later, moving as Yumi was materialized over top of him.

"Sorry Ulrich. Okay Jeremy, were all here. Where's the tower?" Yumi asked as she landed, turning to look at the sky.

_"North of your position. It's not far; you should be able to see it."_

Yumi looked in the direction Jeremy indicated and, sure enough, there it was, glowing brightly between two high walls of ice. She then turned to the newest member of the team.

"Not bad William, you wear Lyoko well."

"Huh?" William asked, looking down at himself. He realized he wasn't wearing what he had left the factory in. He was now garbed in a tight fitting body suit, colored white on his torso and the tops of his arms, the bottoms of which were a dark blue. His pants were colored in two more shades of blue, with a red sash around his waist. And on the ground beside him was what he figured must be his weapon.

It was a massive, cleaver like sword with a dark blue and red handle. With a grunt he hefted the sword up over his shoulder. He found it balanced easily there.

"Cool," he said, as he finished looking himself over. "So, if this is my weapon, what do you three have?"

Ulrich reached around and pulled his two smaller swords from the sheath on his back, while Yumi pulled out her fans. Aelita stretched out her hand and formed a ball of energy, which she launched at a rock in the distance.

"Cool," William repeated, looking more impressed every second.

_"Whenever you four are done showing off…" _Jeremy said, letting the sentence trail off.

"Sorry Jeremy," Yumi said, tucking her fans away. "We'll get going now."

_"Good. Here are your vehicles."_

William got yet another shock as Yumi's overwing and Ulrich's overbike appeared before him.

"Come on princess," Ulrich said, jumping on the overbike. "You're with me."

"And it looks like you're with me, William," Yumi said, climbing onto the overwing. Aelita and William climbed on the vehicles and, with a rev of Ulrich's engine; they shot off towards the tower.

"So Yumi," William said as they rode along, "do you think we'll run into any monsters while we're here?"

"Probably, although personally, I wouldn't mind a monster free mission for once."

_"Neither would I," _Jeremy said, _"But it seems that won't be happening today. You've got three Bloks coming up behind you."_

"Blocks?" William asked.

"Yeah," Yumi said, looking behind her. "Here they come. Ulrich, you and Aelita go ahead; we'll take care of these guys."

"Alright," Ulrich shouted, rocketing ahead, while laser fire announced the Bloks' arrival.

"Ready William?" Yumi asked, turning the overwing around.

"I think so," William said, eyeing the approaching blocks.

"Then let's go." Yumi grabbed William by the hand and pulled him off the overwing, just as a blast from one of the Bloks destroyed it. She landed on her hands, springing into a back flip and landing nimbly on her feet. She turned to face the first Blok, pulling out a fan and letting it fly. It spun around behind the Blok, coming around and slicing through the eye on its back and returning to Yumi's hand, causing the geisha to grin.

Nearby William was fighting his own Blok, although with less successful results. He swung his sword wildly at the Blok, missing it completely. The Blok retaliated with a ring of fire, which toppled William over.

William was quick to jump back to his feet, grabbing his sword and swinging at the Blok again. This time the weapon struck it, hitting the corner of its side and knocking it over. The Blok, unable to right itself, was left with its little legs kicking wildly at thin air. But even though its mobility was impaired, its attack power was not.

The eye facing William fired off a laser, which hit him in the stomach and knocked him over again. A second laser came at him, but this time William was able to get his sword up to block it.

"You have to hit its eye!" Yumi shouted, noticing William's predicament. Her fans took out another Blok at that moment, showing William what to do. He swung his sword around and launched himself at the Blok, stabbing the weapon through its eye just as it fired off a third laser.

The attack hit William on the chest, throwing him away from the Blok just as it burst to pieces.

"That wasn't so bad," William said, hefting his sword back onto his shoulder.

_"It's about to get worse,"_ Jeremy said, _"Our new friend is headed __your__ way."_

"That's just what we need," Yumi said, throwing her hands up.

"Those monsters weren't so tuff. How bad can this one be?" William asked.

"This thing's the reason we couldn't get to the tower last time," Yumi said, "so I would say pretty bad."

Just as she finished the sentence, the familiar black monster appeared in the middle of the path leading to the tower. It crouched low to the ground, growling fiercely.

"What do we do?" William asked, eyeing the monster.

"We need to hold it off long enough for Aelita to reach the tower."

"That sounds easy."

_"Don't get overconfident William. You've only got __ten__ life points left. One hit from that thing and you're done."_

Just as Jeremy finished his sentence a laser landed between William and Yumi. William immediately crouched down, raising his sword defensively. Yumi spun away from the area, performing a neat flip and launching her fans at the Wulf. The monster dodged the first fan, then caught the second fan with its paw and crushed it against the ground.

Yumi took a step back from the monster, pressing her fingers to her temples. Behind the monster Yumi's remaining fan glowed bright pink and did a quick one-eighty, heading back towards the monster. It impacted with the back of the creatures head, causing it to roar in pain.

Yumi took advantage of the distraction, sprinting past the monster as it pawed the back of its head, collecting her remaining fan as she went. The monster saw what she was doing and opened its jaws, preparing to stop her.

William saw the opportunity this presented and ran forward. He reached the monster's foot and used it as a platform, leaping off it towards the monster's eye, bringing his sword slashing down. He was only inches away from it when the monster turned its head, firing and devirtualizing him. It then turned back to Yumi, who was running away from the tower. The monster quickly fired on her, hitting her in the back.

Yumi, who hadn't been expecting the attack, was tossed to the ground. She groaned, shaking her head to clear it. A growl from behind made her freeze. She turned slowly, not wanting to see what was behind her, while at the same time knowing exactly what she would find.

The monster stood over top of her, its jaws hanging wide. Yumi tried to bring her fan up to defend herself, but she wasn't fast enough. The monster swung its paw down, crushing her and taking the rest of her life points.

--

_"Ulrich, are you and Aelita almost to the tower?" _Jeremy asked.

"Yeah why? What's going on?"Ulrich asked, glancing up at the sky.

_"William and Yumi were just deleted, and our new friend is on his way towards your location."_

"Alright, we're close now," Ulrich said, steering his bike onto one of the two paths that lead to the tower. The pair was only a few feet from their destination when something rather unexpected happened.

A column of light burst up from the virtual sea, shooting straight through the icy path ahead. Ulrich slid to a stop when the light appeared.

"What is that?" Aelita asked, eyeing the light warily.

_"Xana is virtualizing a monster right in front of you," _Jeremy said, sounding worried.

"Great," Ulrich grumbled, just as the light disappeared, revealing…

"Not another Wulf," Ulrich cried unhappily. For Xana had indeed, placed a Wulf right in the path of Ulrich and Aelita. This one was a little different from its counterpart, being colored red and having a black eye of Xana. But it wasn't any less dangerous, so Ulrich wisely decided to turn around and try the other path.

But his plans were foiled when he turned around only to come face to face with the other Wulf. As he racked his brains for a way out, both Wulves dropped their jaws open in preparation to fire.

"Get to the tower Aelita!" Ulrich shouted, nudging the girl off his bike. She hesitated a moment, then extended her wings and took flight, heading for the tower. Just as she took to the air both Wulves fired, devirtualizing her friend. They then turned on her as the red Wulf caught sight of her flying past his head.

Aelita let out a startled cry as the red Wulf fired a bright pink laser at her, missing only by inches. She quickly sped up as the two Wulves began to pursue her. Thankfully the tower wasn't far, and Aelita was able to reach it this time, before the Wulves got her.

She tumbled into the tower, hurrying to the center of the floor and spreading her arms. Slowly she began her ascent to the second level of the tower. When she landed, she hurried to the screen hovering over the floor. It was already covered with opened programs, which continued to shift and change with Xana's searching. Aelita took a breath, reaching her hand forward to press it against the screen. But when she was only inches away the screen stopped all movement and went blank.

"Jeremy, what just happened?" Aelita asked, pulling her hand away.

_"We missed it. Xana just left the tower,"_ Jeremy said, sounding disappointed. _"__I'll bring you back in now. __I__ guess we'__ll just have to try again later__."_

**Well, there we go. And now, as a gift for you all, you get another chapter! Yay!**


	7. Chapter 7

**And here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

"That could have gone better," Ulrich grumbled.

"It also could have gone a lot worse," Jeremy said, subtly reminding everyone of the reason they had been on Lyoko in the first place.

"Even if we didn't get what we were looking for, William got to prove how good he was on Lyoko," Yumi said. "He almost destroyed that monster of Xana's."

"Really?" Aelita asked.

"Not bad for your first trip," Ulrich admitted. "But even with your help, it still doesn't seem like enough. Not now that Xana has two of those Wulves running around." Yumi nodded.

"But who else can we ask to help? Asking William was understandable, he was almost sent to Lyoko," Yumi said. "Who else can we say that about?"

"I can't think of anyone," Aelita admitted.

"Uh, I can," Ulrich said, looking as if he'd rather not bring it up as everyone turned expectant gazes on him.

"Well?" William asked. "Who is it?"

--

"Hey, Sissi! Wait up!"

Sissi came to a halt at the familiar voice, spinning around with a smile on her lips. "Ulrich dear!" she cried, "Finally come to ask me out on a date?"

"In your dreams," Ulrich said. "But I do need to talk to you."

"About what?" she asked, her voice losing its loving tones. "Because I don't really have the time to stand here and listen to you tell me about what an over clingy twit I am."

"Whoa, no, nothing like that," Ulrich said, startled by Sissi's sudden defensiveness. "We…Uh, I need your help with something. It's really important."

"It doesn't have anything to do with something called Lyoko, does it?" Sissi asked. Ulrich stared at her, mouth hanging slightly open.

"Wh- Where did you hear that name?" he asked, his mind jumping to William.

"Nowhere. Actually, I dreamed it. You were in the dream too…and so was Odd" Ulrich felt his jaw drop a little lower.

"Right," he said, grabbing Sissi's arm and pulling her towards the woods. "Well, that is what I have to talk to you about. Then we need to go see Jeremy. I think he might want to run a little check on the return program."

--

"She dreamed it?" Jeremy asked, looking up from his computer. Ulrich nodded.

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too. Are you sure the return trips are working?"

"Of course I am, but back to Sissi. What did she say?"

"She said she'd think about it. She knows that none of us really like her, and I think she's worried that we won't trust her."

"Will we?" Yumi asked. Ulrich shrugged.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," Aelita said, her voice calm and reasoning.

"I agree with Aelita," Jeremy said. "We really don't have a choice. Not if we want to beat Xana." Everyone had to agree with that.

"So, when does she come to Lyoko?" William asked. "What?" he added when everyone turned to look at him. "I don't like being the only new guy."

"You won't be for long," Jeremy said. "And to answer your question, I figure the next time you should all go to Lyoko should be tomorrow, after class. You'll have more time then."

"How do you figure that?" Ulrich asked.

"Ever since Xana took that extra time on Lyoko, I've watching him closely, and I've noticed a pattern forming with how long he spends in each tower. Each rotation Xana makes around the four sectors takes twice as long as the last one and he's started taking breaks between towers. Tomorrow you'll have ten minutes to get to the tower and find out what Xana is up too. That should be enough time if one of you takes Aelita to the tower while the other three stay back and fight off the Wulves."

"What do we do until then?" Ulrich asked.

"Get some sleep, go to class, and try to act like everything is normal," Jeremy said. "Don't forget, we still need to deal with the fact that Odd is gone. I'm sure the school will notice something's wrong when Odd doesn't show up for his classes."

"Should we say anything to the teachers?" Aelita asked, looking up from Jeremy's bed.

"Ulrich probably should," William offered. "He and Odd share a room, so it would seem strange for him to not notice that he's missing." Ulrich nodded, seeing the wisdom in William's words.

"Alright. I'll go to the principal during lunch. I'll make up some story about him going for a walk and not coming back or something."

"Sounds good," Yumi said, standing up and stretching. "But for now I think we should take Jeremy's advice and go to bed." There was general murmur of agreement at Yumi's words and, one by one, the gang left Jeremy's room, each wishing the others a good night.

Ulrich was the last to leave, hovering for a moment in Jeremy's doorway before finally heading for his own room down the hall. He wasn't looking forwards to returning to it. It had only been that morning when he had realized Odd was gone, and even with the knowledge that they may yet find Odd, it still seemed strange and unsettling to return to the small room alone.

Ulrich walked slowly, trying to put off his return for as long as possible. Which really wasn't very long, considering how close Jeremy's room was to his, and within two minutes he was standing outside the familiar door. Ulrich paused for a moment, seriously considering sleeping out in the hall, before unlocking the door and heading inside.

He was immediately greeted by Kiwi, who jumped up happily at his legs, then looked around them expectantly, waiting for the room's other occupant to arrive.

"Sorry Kiwi," Ulrich whispered, lifting the little dog up. "Odd's not coming back tonight. But he will soon, don't you worry." He then kicked off his shoes and climbed into his bed. Kiwi gave a little wine in the direction of Odd's bed, then curled up against Ulrich's chest to sleep.

--

Ulrich sat up with a gasp, eyes darting around the room as his sleep addled mind tried to figure out what it was that had woken him. After a moment it registered the rather loud pounding on his door.

"I'm up, I'm up," he mumbled, scrambling out of his bed and glancing at the time on his clock. _6__:56__Am_. With a growl, Ulrich wrenched the door open. "Whatever this is," he hissed, "It had better be important."

"It is."

Ulrich looked up in shock, noticing for the first time that it was Sissi standing outside his door. "Can I come in?" she asked. Ulrich nodded, still a little shocked at Sissi's sudden and early appearance.

"Uh, can I do something for you?" Ulrich asked, watching Sissi as she looked around the room.

"Yes, you can," she said, seating herself on Ulrich's bed. "You…you could accept my agreement to join your group."

"Really?" Ulrich asked, standing in front of his early morning visitor.

"Yes, really," she answered stiffly. "That is, if you still want me," she added softly. Ulrich sat down beside Sissi with a sigh.

"Of course we still want you," he said. "We wouldn't ask you for your help if we didn't." Sissi didn't respond, although Ulrich saw a smile ghost across her lips.

"So, about this Lyoko place," she said, regaining her usual air, "when do we go?"

"Jeremy has your first trip scheduled for tomorrow, right after school." Sissi nodded, looking down at the floor between her feet. After a few minutes Ulrich spoke up again. "Does that answer your question?" Sissi nodded. "So, are you ready to go back to your room now?" At this Sissi shook her head.

"Not really. Couldn't I stay here? Classes start in an hour. You could tell me more about Lyoko." Ulrich opened his mouth to respond, then shut it again, nodding his head.

"Sure."

--

"Ulrich, please pay attention!" Ulrich jumped, looking up from his paper and at is teacher. She was standing at the front of the class, arms crossed and foot tapping. "Nice of you to join us," she said, turning back to the board. "Now, as I was saying, when a cell absorbs water, it's known as…" And once again, Ulrich stopped listening.

He returned his stare to his blank sheet of paper. After a moment, a neatly folded note appeared under his face. With a quick glance at the teacher's turned back, Ulrich picked up the note and opened it. The bright pink handwriting told him it was from Sissi.

_What's wrong? You seem distracted._

Ulrich looked over at Sissi, but she gave no hint that the note was from her, instead focusing on her notes. Ulrich shrugged and quickly scribbled a quick _nothing_. He then folded the note up again and flicked it back at Sissi. When, after a few seconds, the note didn't return, Ulrich returned his attention to his paper. A few minutes later and the note reappeared, a little less neatly folded then before. Unfolding it, Ulrich found a little conversation had taken place on the paper.

_Nothing? I don't believe that._ Sissi wrote. Underneath that was a dark blue scribble, written in Aelita's loopy handwriting.

_He's probably nervous about going to see your father after class. He has to go tell him that Odd's missing._

_Oh, _Sissi had responded, _what is he going to tell him?_

The response was written in black ink, using Jeremy's neat lettering. _That Odd went on a walk last night and didn't come back._

_And what will he say when they ask why Odd was out after curfew? _Sissi asked. Ulrich figured Jeremy and Aelita had seen this question, then tossed the note to him.

_I'll tell them I fell asleep before curfew and when I woke up Odd wasn't back._

He refolded the letter and tossed it back. A few seconds later and it had returned to his desk.

_And they will ask why you didn't report it then. _Sissi said.

_I'll tell them I assumed he was in the shower. I didn't take one this morning (as you know) so I wasn't able to check if he was there._

Again Ulrich tossed it away, and again the note returned.

_You're good_ Sissi said. This was followed by Aelita's quickly scribbled comment.

_Ulrich,_ _how__ does she know you didn't take a shower?_

**Well, I hope you liked it. Now go eat your Turkey!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Burakku's Shadow,** **DayDreamer9, LanHikari2000x, elianna, g r i m x v a n i t y, and tweetytwit, I would like to take a moment to thank you all for reviewing this story. It means alot that some people take the time to review this, it helps encourage me to write. And so, here is chapter 8. Enter the new girl-**

"Are you sure about this?" Ulrich questioned his cell phone, standing outside the principal's office.

_"Yes, I'm sure. Now get to the factory, I'm about to send Sissi and the others to Lyoko," _Jeremy answered.

"But last time we tried this, it didn't really work out all that well."

_"Don't worry; I've fixed the bugs in the programming since then. This time it should work out."_

"If you're sure."

_"I am. Now come on, don't make me send the others to Lyoko without you."_

"Alright, I'm on my way." Ulrich sighed, hanging up his phone and heading back the way he'd just come from. He had to admit, he wasn't too sure about Jeremy's new plan. The last time he had tried something like this; it had turned out to be a disaster. But if Jeremy said he could make it work, Ulrich wasn't going to argue.

Instead he made his way out of the school and through the woods towards the sewer path that he knew would lead him to the factory.

--

_"Ready Sissi?" _Jeremy asked, his voice echoing around the scanner room.

"You know it," Sissi responded excitedly, squirming slightly in her scanner.

_"Alright, here we go. __Transfer Aelita, transfer Yumi, and; never thought I'd be saying this, transfer Sissi."_

"Hey!" Sissi called as her scanner burst to life.

_"Scanner," _Jeremy continued. _"Get ready Sissi."_

"Ready for what?" Sissi asked, looking around.

_"Virtualization." _

--

Sissi looked around Lyoko in awe, amazement in her eyes as she took in the virtual world. Her view didn't last long though, as a little fact made its self known. Lyoko may be a bunch of land and trees that hovered in the air, but apparently it wasn't exempt from all the laws of physics. Like gravity, for example. Sissi learned this the hard way as she crashed to the forest floor below her.

"Sorry Sissi," Aelita said, reaching out a hand to help her up. "We seem to be forgetting to warn people about the drop."

"Yeah, they forgot to tell me about it when I first came here too," William said, appearing beside the group of girls. Ulrich grinned slightly at the memory. Sissi just gave the group a huff, giving Aelita a nod of thanks as she began dusting herself off. Suddenly she did a double take, eyeing Aelita strangely.

"What- what are you wearing?" she asked, looking surprised. Aelita gave her a quick once over, a grin coming to her face.

"What's with the ears?" she shot back. Sissi gave her a confused look. Curiously she reached up, feeling around her head. She felt her hands hit something rather unfamiliar, and began immediately searching for something she could use as a mirror. Catching sight of William's sword, Sissi scurried over to him, snatching the weapon and leaning it against a tree.

"No," she cried, gasping at her appearance. "I…I look like a rat!"

And indeed, she did. Her hair, which had grown considerably; was pulled back in a thick braid, which came to a rest just below her knees and had been tied off with a rather oversized pink bow. Sticking up out of this new hair were the causes of Sissi's distress. A pair of furry pink and white mouse ears. Sissi pawed at them unhappily as she took in the rest of her appearance.

Sissi had arrived on Lyoko garbed in a short white dress, decorated with large pink and gold flowers along the bottom. On her hands she wore a pair of long, fingerless white gloves which stretched up to just past her elbows, each decorated with a pattern of pink flowers and golden vines. Her boots were of a matching design, and reached up to her thighs.

"Well, maybe a pretty rat," Sissi said, giving one of her ears a small tug. She sighed when it remained attached. "So, what do I get for a weapon?" she asked curiously.

"Is that it?" Yumi asked, pointing at Sissi's thigh. Sissi looked down and noticed something she hadn't seen before. Strapped to her thigh was a small golden holster. It held a short golden rod. Sissi pulled the rod from the holster, giving it a quick once over.

"Is there a point to this thing?" she asked, giving the little rod a twirl. To everyone's surprise, the twirl caused the rod to suddenly extend almost four feet. "Oh," Sissi said, holding the golden rod up. "That's better. I can fight with this."

_"Glad you found your staff," _Jeremy said, causing Sissi to give violent start.

"Sorry," Ulrich said, "I thought there was something else we forgot to warn you about."

_"Now that all that is settled, would you guys mind heading for the tower?"_

"Alright Jeremy, we're on our way," Yumi said, looking around. She caught sight of the tower off in the distance and, with a quick glance to Ulrich and Aelita, began running. Ulrich and Aelita took off after her, quickly followed by William. Sissi watched them go, looking a tad bewildered. Suddenly, she realized something.

"Hey, slow down you losers! You're leaving me behind!"

--

Jeremy watched his screen with amusement as the little white icon that was Sissi trailed after the others. He then turned his attention back to what he was originally doing. In the hopes of gaining some insight into what Xana was doing with the stolen information from the towers, Jeremy had put together a type of tracking program. He was now trying to figure out how to get it into the tower Xana was searching.

It took Jeremy maybe five seconds to hack his way into the tower's hard drive. When he did, his computer screen was suddenly swarmed with windows popping open. Jeremy checked a side screen for any signs of approaching monsters, and when he saw none, he began to sort through the tower's data.

Each screen he looked at contained a program that ran some part of the tower. One showed the program that allowed Aelita to connect with it. Another showed the program that made the floors glow. After some careful searching, Jeremy found the one he wanted- the program that allowed access to the tower memory. He typed a few changes to the program's code, and in less than four seconds he had access to everything Xana was searching through.

Jeremy quickly found where information was being siphoned from the memory and attached his tracker to it, hoping to find where it was sent. The tracker flowed with the data, being pulled out of the tower and through the mass of cables that connected the towers together. Jeremy followed it from tower to tower, all the way to the inner edge of the sector.

For a moment the data remained where it was. But then Xana activated a familiar program, and the data began to disappear. Jeremy found he wasn't all that surprised to see that the data was being sent to Carthage. With a few taps on the keyboard he brought up his map of the fifth sector. The central hub of Lyoko was still encased in the orange glow of its massive guardian.

Jeremy sighed, thinking he had hit a dead end. What was the point of the data he was tracking being sent here? How would it get in? Jeremy assumed he had made a mistake with his program and was about to return to the forest sector to work on it when something on the holographic map caught his eye. He turned to give it a closer look.

"What is he doing?" Jeremy whispered, watching the map in confusion. He had caught sight of a small opening in the guardian. The reason for it became apparent when the stolen data appeared on the map, streaming its way into the sector. Jeremy was about to take a closer look at this opening when an alarm distracted him.

"Hey guys, you have some company," he said, turning back to the computer and pulling up his Lyoko map. "There are four Kankrelats headed your way."

--

"Just what we needed," Ulrich said, "a welcoming party."

"What are…whatever Jeremy said," Sissi asked, having finally joined the group.

"Kankrelats," Yumi said, "There aren't very smart, and really not all that threatening, but they are annoying. You and I can stay back to fight them off while the boys take Aelita to the tower."

"I'll help you two," Ulrich said, drawing his swords. "William can take Aelita to the tower, it's not too far now." He came to a stop as he spoke, turning to Aelita. "Does that work for you princess?"

"Yes. Come on William, they can handle it" Aelita said, grabbing William's arm and continuing to run ahead. The two disappeared through the trees as the first Kankrelats appeared.

"Ready, Sissi?" Yumi asked as the Kankrelats opened fire. She then pulled out her fans, spreading one and launching it at the little gang of monsters. It hit its target, destroying most of the Kankrelat. Its legs continued to run about a bit longer.

"What do I do?" Sissi asked, following the question with a yelp as a laser landed dangerously close to her foot.

"Block the lasers," Ulrich shouted, doing just that with his sword. Sissi watched him, and then lifted her staff in an attempt to protect herself. Forty lost life points later, and she began to suspect she was doing something wrong.

"Just attack them!" Ulrich said, launching himself at the Kankrelats. He swung both his swords out, slicing two Kankrelats in half. The remaining Kankrelat, having seen its fellows' demise at the hands of Yumi and Ulrich, decided to move on the least threatening of the group.

"Ew, get away from me!" Sissi shrieked when she realized the Kankrelat was after her. She pulled back and swung her staff like a golf club at the monster, hoping to get it away. The weapon slammed into the Kankrelat, devirtualizing it with a bang. Sissi gave the Kankrelats left over legs a surprised look as they scurried blindly into a tree, turning to look at her staff. She was surprised to see a scythe like blade sticking out the end of it.

"Oooh," Sissi cooed happily, lifting the blade up and examining it.

"We've defeated the Kankrelats Jeremy," Ulrich called, eyeing Sissi as she grinned at her new weapon.

_"That's great, but now you have a bigger problem. __Or, William and Aelita do."_

"Let me guess," Yumi said, tucking her fan away. "Our new friends again?"

_"Only one__. Now hurry, I don't know how long William can hold it off for."_

"Alright, we'll be right there," Ulrich called, beginning to run towards the tower again. He didn't get far though, before he was stopped by the second Wulf, as it appeared in front of him. "Scratch that," Ulrich said, taking a step back. "We might take a little longer then I thought."

**Haha, cliffhanger! But don't fret, only a days wait untill the next chapter! But then there might be a little longer wait till chapter 10 (only like, one or two days longer). This is because chapters 10, 11, and 15 have dissapeared due to freak powersurges. And now that I am rewriting them, there is so much more I wish to add to this story! Which means 10 and 11 may grow into 12 and maybe 13. And chapter 15, which was supposed to be the last chapter, my streatch out over an extra chapter. And then of course, there's the epilogue.**

**P.S. Cryaesion and RikkuNeko, I see that even though you haven't reviewed, you have alerted this story, which means just as much to me. So, thank you.**


	9. Chapter 9

**And here it is, chapter nine!**

William took a step back, holding his sword up defensively. Aelita stood behind him, looking worried.

"Jeremy," she called, "are Ulrich and the others almost here?"

_"Uh, they might take awhile," _Jeremy said.

"Why?" William asked, not taking his eyes of the black monster before him.

_"Xana sent his other Wulf after them. I don't think they'll be able to get to you in time. You're on your own."_

William sighed. "Okay. You're the expert here Aelita, what do you think we should do?"

"Uh…" Aelita answered, looking around. She caught sight of the tower right behind William, an idea coming to her. "Think you can keep it distracted long enough for me to reach the tower?" she asked.

"I think so," William said, "How long do you have?"

"Jeremy?" Aelita asked, looking up at the sky.

_"You've still got four minutes Aelita," _Jeremy answered.

"Yeah," William said, brandishing his sword. "I can hold him off. Just tell me when you're ready."

Aelita nodded, resting a hand over her bracelet. "Okay William…now!" At Aelita's shouted William took off, flying at the Wulf and striking it across the legs. The Wulf gave a howl of anger, turning its attention to the boy at its feet. While it was looking down Aelita flew up. She didn't go far, though, because she realized that when the Wulf turned on William, it got him pinned up at the edge of the narrow forest path.

"Energy field!" Aelita shouted, firing the attack at the monster's head. She got the Wulf's attention, getting it to turn towards her. While it was looking away William ran to safety. As he ran he saw the Wulf lowering its jaw, preparing to fire on Aelita.

With a shout he leapt forward, just as the Wulf attacked. He swung his sword to block the laser, and was surprised when, instead of deflecting, his sword absorbed the attack.

"What was that?" he asked as he landed. His sword was now glowing a bright blue color. Experimentally William swung the sword at the Wulf, and was surprised when a blue laser shot from it, hitting the Wulf in the chest. "Cool," William said, flipping his sword over in his hands.

"William, watch out!" Aelita shouted, getting William's attention. He looked up just in time to see a blue laser heading straight for him. William looked up in surprise, startled to see the laser heading straight for him. He tried to run from the attack, and was surprised when he didn't just run away, but seemed to sprint away faster than he ever had before. When he stopped he found himself about twenty feet from the monster.

"What…just happened?" he asked, looking up at the shocked looking Wulf. "Hey," he added, looking around himself. "Where's my sword?" As he asked, William reached his hand out, palm facing upward as if hoping the sword would just fall into it. To his surprise there was a burst of blue smoke over his hand, followed by his weapon doing just that.

"Cool," William said, turning to look at the Wulf. "Did you see that coming? Cause I didn't."

The Wulf, which had become completely interested in William, had left its defenses open, its unprotected eye facing right at Aelita. Quick to take advantage of the situation, Aelita formed two spheres of energy in her hands.

"Energy Sphere!" she shouted, launching both attacks. They slammed into the creatures glowing white eye one after the other, knocking it over with the force of the attack. The Wulf gave a howl of defeat, then disappeared in a burst of blue light, taking out some of the land around it.

"Good hit Aelita," William called, staring at the spot where the Wulf had just been. "I think you should be getting into the tower now."

"Right," Aelita said, turning and flying into the base of the tower. As quickly as she could she rose to the second tower platform, hurrying to the screen that hovered there. Like before, this one was swarming with data. Aelita took a deep breath, then pressed her hand against the screen. For a few moments nothing happened. Then a small box appeared on the screen. Aelita's name appeared in it, followed by the words 'ACCESS: GRANTED'

"Alright Jeremy," Aelita said, beginning to sort through the data. "I'm in. How are Ulrich, Yumi, and Sissi doing?"

--

"We've been better!" Ulrich shouted when Jeremy asked, leaping out of the way of an attack. Beside him Yumi took a pink laser to the chest.

_"Don't __worry;__ you won't have to hold the Wulf off much longer, Aelita's in the tower. Once she finds what she needs I'll be able to bring you all back in."_

"Tell her to hurry!" Sissi shouted, flinging herself away from another of the monster's attacks. Yumi ran past her, tossing both her fans at the Wulf. It dodged them both, letting them impact the tree behind it. Ulrich attacked next, launching himself at the Wulf. He almost took the Wulf out, his sword just barley scratching the Wulf's glowing black eye before it swung its head, using it to head butt Ulrich from the sky.

"Do something Sissi!" Yumi shouted as Ulrich fell into her.

"What?" Sissi asked.

"Kill it!" Ulrich answered, "Stab it though the eye on its head!" Sissi eyed the monster warily as it exposed its cannon. As she stared at it an idea came to her. Taking advantage of the Wulf's focus on Ulrich and Yumi, she ran around behind it. With a quick jump she leapt onto the monster's hips, causing it to cry out in surprise.

Sissi dug her fingers into the Wulf's fur, holding on tight as it tried to buck her off, crawling as quickly as she could up the Wulf's back. She wrapped her legs around the Wulf's neck once she reached it, using her now free hands to wield her weapon. She raised it above her head with both hands then, with a shout, brought it crashing down, stabbing the blade through the Wulf's eye.

The Wulf cried out in pain, rearing up and swiping a paw at Sissi, then crashed to the ground, landing right on top of Ulrich and Yumi. It then exploded in a blast of pink light, taking the three warriors with it.

--

"Ow," Ulrich groaned as his scanner slid open, depositing him in the scanner room. The scanner on his left opened next, revealing Yumi sitting in the bottom of it.

"I feel like I just had a building dropped on me," she moaned, resting her head on her knees.

"That was great!" came a muffled shouted from the third scanner. It opened a moment later to reveal its occupant. Sissi leapt from the container, brandishing a nonexistent weapon. "So," she said, looking happily between Ulrich and Yumi. "When do we go again?"

--

_"Do you have it yet?"_

"Almost Jeremy," Aelita said calmly. "I've found the memory. I just need to get to the information Xana took and translate it from code."

_"Alright, take your time," _Jeremy said, sounding like he would rather order Aelita to work as fast as she could. Aelita worked as quickly as possible, as anxious as Jeremy to know what Xana was up to. She soon found the information Xana was taking, and began to run a translation program. For a few moments she waited, tapping her foot impatiently. A little ding let her know the translation was complete.

"Okay Jeremy, I have the information," she said, beginning to read. Suddenly she gasped. "Its…Jeremy, this is the programming for Odd's weapons systems."

--

"The what?" Ulrich asked, having heard Aelita. "What would Xana want with that?" Jeremy shrugged, beginning to type as Aelita sent him the information.

"I don't know," Jeremy said, looking at a loss as to what he should do next. Then a thought occurred to him. "Maybe…" he whispered, beginning to type furiously.

"Maybe what?" Yumi asked, leaning forward.

"I think that maybe Xana is using this information to rebuild Odd in Carthage."

_"You think he's what?" _William asked, his voice projecting from the speakers on either side of the supercomputer.

"Why do you think that?" Yumi asked curiously. Jeremy didn't look up as he answered, absorbed as he was with the screen before him.

"While you were on Lyoko I tracked the information Xana took. He sent it into sector five. But I need to see what else he took from the other towers to be sure. Aelita, can you find that information for me?"

_"Yes, hold on."_ A few minutes later and a number of windows opened up in the screen. Jeremy read through them, eyes widening with each word he saw.

"I was right," he said, leaning back in his chair. "All of these have to do with Odd. This one is the program for his appearance, this program controls his increased sense of balance, and this one is for his overboard! Xana's taken all of this and sent it to Carthage."

"So Xana is trying to what? Make his own Odd to fight us?" Sissi asked curiously.

"I don't think it's his own Odd," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "I think it's our Odd, but with Xana at the controls."

"So what do we do?" Yumi asked, looking shocked. Jeremy shrugged.

"I don't know. As long as that Guardian is in place around sector five, I don't think we can do anything."

"So you're saying there's nothing we can do?" Sissi asked, also looking shocked.

"Not 'nothing'," Ulrich said. "We still need to take care of the problem of Odd missing from school. Are you sure we can't just tell the principal he disappeared?" Ulrich asked curiously. Jeremy shook his head.

"No. It would work while Odd was gone, but what would happen when we get him back? There would be all sorts of questions from the school about where he went and why. No, I think this is better."

"Why? What are we doing now? "Yumi asked, not having heard about the change of plan.

"You'll see," Jeremy said, bending over the computer and beginning to type. "Aelita, I'm going to need you to do one more thing for me."

_"Sure Jeremy, what is it?"_

"We're going to need that tower a little longer."

**Oh gaspyness, what could Jeremy have planned? Who knows. Cept me. The next chapter may make it up tomorrow, but I'm not sure. It's half done, so it just needs a little more added to it. So hopefully it will be on time! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, here's chapter ten. I've hit a bit of a writers block, so it may be a bit below what you were expecting. Oh well, hope you still like it anyway!**

"Jeremy, you've come up with many brilliant plans in the past," Ulrich said, "And I'll be the first to admit to it. But this…well, every genius has that one plan that doesn't work."

Jeremy looked his newly made clone over in confusion. "Why?" he asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"This," Ulrich said, holding up a piece of paper. "It's a pop quiz we had today. In math." Jeremy stared at the piece of paper, immediately understanding Ulrich's point.

"Wow," Yumi said, looking as well. "You're right, that is suspicious. Odd getting an A on a math test is going to alert some someone to the fact that this isn't really Odd."

"I thought Odd got good grades," William said, looking confused.

"He does," Ulrich said, tucking the test away. "But not in math. Actually, he's failing math right now."

"You're right," William said. "That really is suspicious. And so is that," he added, pointing to the clone. The Odd clone was sitting on the park bench the group had commandeered, his legs pulled up under him in an attempt to get away from Kiwi, who was jumping happily at his feet.

"Shoo little doggie," the clone said, waving its hand at the little dog. "Go on, go away." Kiwi just continued in his attempts to climb up to the blonde, causing the Odd clone to scoot all the way to the end of the bench, almost falling off.

"Well, they can't all be winners," Jeremy conceded, shrugging as the bell for class rang.

"Oh, we need to get going," Yumi said, grabbing William's arm and beginning to drag him off. "Good luck with the clone!"

"Thanks!" Ulrich shouted after her. He then turned his attention to the clone, who was, at the moment, searching for the source of the bell. "We're going to need it."

--

Four hours later, and Ulrich was hitting his head against his desk, asking whatever great and powerful deities were out there for an explanation as to why someone thought it wise to give him a class alone with Odd. Now normally this wasn't such a bad thing, but today's situation was anything but normal, as the Odd clone was adequately proving through his constant, uninterrupted flow of chatter.

Now, it wasn't like Odd the second hadn't been like this in his last three classes, because he had. But then he'd had Aelita to have a nice educated chat with, or Jeremy to bother, or Sissi behind him to keep him from straying onto topics Ulrich really didn't want to hear. But now there was no one to sensor the little clone, and poor Ulrich was the victim to suffer for it.

"…but I don't think Sissi would like me back, you know? It just doesn't seem like we would mesh well. But you never know, she might have a soft side to her that I have yet to discover. Maybe she just needs time to warm up to me, do you think?"

"Huh?" Ulrich said, looking up. "Oh, um, sure. Sounds good."

"Alright then," the clone said with a smile. "I'll just give her some time to get used to me, and then try asking her out." The clone then went silent.

"Are you done?" Ulrich asked, lifting his head. The clone nodded. "Thank god," Ulrich mumbled, sitting up straight.

"Of course, there's also that Aelita girl. She's really cute too."

Ulrich let his head fall back to the desk with a _thunk_. This was going to be a long day.

--

Ulrich collapsed into his seat at dinner, clone by his side.

"And how was your day?" Yumi asked, as Ulrich let his head drop into his arms. Beside him, the Odd clone gave Yumi a bright smile.

"It was wonderful."

"Yeah, sure," Ulrich mumbled.

"Well, I'm glad our new friend is settling in," Jeremy said, standing up. "I'll let you two enjoy the rest of your dinner then, while I go work on my computer." As Jeremy walked behind Ulrich's chair to leave, the boy flung his arm out to stop him.

"Take the clone with you," he pleaded. "Please." Jeremy raised an eyebrow at, then looked at the clone and shrugged.

"Okay, sure. Are you done eating?" he asked. The clone nodded, even though he hadn't touched his food, jumping to his feet and dragging Jeremy happily from the cafeteria, rambling on about something or other.

"Oh thank god," Ulrich muttered, sitting up and beginning to tear into his food.

"You know," William said suddenly, "for a clone of Odd, that thing really isn't like Odd at all." Sissi nodded in agreement.

"We know," Yumi said. "Last time Jeremy made a clone, it was like that. A bit of a disaster in the end."

"Yeah, that one tried to kill him," Ulrich said, causing Sissi to gasp.

"The last clone you made tried to kill Jeremy, so you made another one?" she asked in shock. Ulrich nodded.

"Yeah, but that time Xana was controlling it," he said. "This time Jeremy has added some shielding to the tower he's using to keep Xana out. Any other questions?" he added, turning to his food.

"Yeah, I have one," William said. "When I was on Lyoko something strange happened to me, when I was trying to escape the Wulf. It felt like I teleported."

"No, that wasn't it," Aelita said, shaking her head. "It was more like a Supersprint, except you turned to smoke."

"Smoke?" Ulrich asked, looking back up from his dinner. Aelita nodded.

"My sword turned to smoke too," William added, looking confused. "Any idea why?"

"Yeah, actually," Ulrich said. "On Lyoko everyone gets a specific ability, along with their weapon."

"And you have a natural ability enhanced as well," Yumi added.

"So, that's how you do all those crazy flips and things?" William asked. Yumi nodded. "So, what's your ability?"

"Telekinesis," Yumi said. William nodded, then turned to Ulrich.

"Supersprint," Ulrich said. "I guess the name is self explanatory. And my abilities are triplicate and triangulate. I use them to create clones of myself," he clarified, noticing the blank looks across the table.

"What about you Aelita?" Sissi asked, turning to the pink haired girl.

"My wings, and creativity," Aelita said. "I can use it to manipulate land in Lyoko." William looked back and forth between the three, looking a bit put out.

"So, the three of you get cool powers for Lyoko, while I just turn into smoke?"

"Hey, at least you have something," Sissi said, crossing her arms. "What do I get?"

"Actually," Yumi said, "You seemed to have some enhanced balance with how you scrambled up that Wulf." Sissi seemed to brighten up a little at this.

"Yeah, but what about a power? I don't seem to recall having one of those."

"You've only been to Lyoko once," Aelita assured her. "You might not have needed it then. I'm sure it'll show up next time. Right Ulrich?" she said, nudging the boy next to her. Ulrich, who had returned to his food, looked up in confusion.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," he said, giving a shrug and returning to his food. Yumi just shook her head.

"Wonderful words of comfort," she told him. "Speaking of comfort, I wonder how Jeremy's dealing with Odd 2.0."

--

"What does this do?"

"Nothing."

"And this?"

"Uh, nothing. Could you just put it down now?" Jeremy asked, worriedly eyeing the computer part in the clone's hands.

"Sure," it said, tossing the piece of computer behind him. Jeremy gasped, lunging after the piece to catch it before it hit the ground. "Hey, what does this do?"

Jeremy looked over to see the clone holding up his keyboard. "No, put that down," he shouted. He was in the middle of working on a very important program, and one mistake would cause him have to start all over again. And after hours of work he'd put into it, he really didn't want that.

"Okay," the clone said, dropping the keyboard with a shrug. Jeremy winced as it landed face down on the floor. He then cried out in defeat as all the data on his computer screen disappeared.

The clone gave Jeremy a startled look when he did this. "Jeremy," he asked, "Is something wrong?"

Jeremy didn't answer, just letting his head fall into his hands. Well, like he said, they can't all be winners.

**Poor Jeremy. He just can't win. So anyway, theres chapter 10. And now, I have a request of my wonderus reviewers. I need an idea for an attack from Xana. Any ideas?**

**p.s. Do you ever get the vibe that some of your reviewers are mind readers?...or stalkers...(you know who you are).**


	11. Chapter 11

**Dun dun dun, Xana's attack begins! What will he do? Read and find out...**

The great mass of data that Xana had gathered hovered around the ceiling of the room at the very top of Carthage like an angry cloud of hornets. For a while it just buzzed about, not really doing much. But then a small hole opened in a part of the room's ceiling, admitting Xana's final collected stream of data.

When this joined the mass, the cloud of data stopped its aimless floating. Instead it began to glow a bright red color, beginning to swirl together. Slowly the mass compacted together, glowing brighter and brighter as it went. Once it was as compacted as it could be, the red glow of the data bundle began to seep away, literally sliding off the ball and into a shapeless glowing form which hovered just a few inches below the data.

The red glow then began to change, deepening into a purple color as the data above it started to drip into it. The data that fell into the glow morphed from its binary form into a small sphere, made of bright green grids. As more data flowed into the glow, the grid grew, shifting and morphing into a basic human shape.

The shape then began to grow more specific, details appearing on the gridded form. With the last drips of data the figure gained color and solid form.

As this final figure finished forming, a ghostly black smoke filtered into the room and made its way towards the floating form.

_Color's a bit of an eyesore, _the smoke seemed to say, drifting around the figure. _Could use a bit of an…upgrade._ The smoke then encircled the figure, causing the outer skin of the figure to disappear in a burst of data squares. Slowly new data formed over the revealed grid form.

_Better,_ the voice said, the smoke drifting away from the figure once more. _Now let's introduce you to some new friends._

--

Jeremy sat with his computer in his lap, tapping his knee as he attempted to think of a way to win his Solitaire game. Aelita sat beside him, watching the game curiously. Sissi and William were also sitting with pair, although they seemed a little less enthralled with the game. The Odd clone was joining them too.

"Why are we all just sitting here?" Sissi finally asked, breaking the silence.

"We're waiting for Ulrich and Yumi," Jeremy said, not looking away from his game.

"Oh, right," Sissi said, turning away again and beginning to examine her fingernails. After a few seconds of this she turned back to Jeremy. "Why are we waiting for Ulrich and Jeremy?" she asked in confusion. Jeremy sighed, looking up from his game.

"Ulrich was held back by Mrs. Hertz. Something about makeup work," he said. "Yumi's finishing a science test." Jeremy then turned back to his game. When he did a window popped open on his screen, accompanied by a familiar alarm.

"What's that?" William asked, looking startled.

"Our Xana alarm," Jeremy said, looking over the information on his screen. "It looks like he's finished with just passing through the towers. Now he's launched a real attack."

--

Ulrich jumped slightly in his seat, startled by his cell phone's sudden vibrating. He checked that Mrs. Hertz was thoroughly engrossed in the book she was reading, then pulled the phone from his pocket, leaning on his hand to act as if he was just resting to hide the cell.

"Jeremy, this had better be important," he whispered, not taking his eyes off the teacher.

_"It is," _Jeremy said, and Ulrich could tell by the sound of his voice that he was hurrying along the sewer to the factory. _"Xana's launched a real attack and I've only got William and Sissi to take Aelita to Lyoko.__ And I also have the clone to keep an eye on.__"_

"What do you want me to do about it?" Ulrich asked. "Apparently my parents got a hold of the school, and told them they wanted Mrs. Hertz to do something that would get my science grade up. Now she's piled me with work, and I can't leave until it's all finished. And Yumi's not going to give up taking that test. She needs it to make sure her grade doesn't drop."

_"Fine," _Jeremy said, his sigh echoing over the phone. _"But try and hurry. __And while you're there, see if you can find any hints as to what it is Xana is planning."_

"Okay Jeremy," Ulrich said. "I'll call you once I finish this." The pair then said their goodbyes and Ulrich hung up his phone, sneaking it back into his pocket.

Just as he returned his thoughts to his work, a loud rumble caught his attention. Ulrich let out a hefty sigh as he looked out the window and found that, not only was he stuck doing a heap of busy work, but now he also had to deal with the rain.

--

William, Sissi, and Aelita all landed firmly on the grassy land of the forest sector, quickly straightening up and looking around.

"Okay Jeremy, we're here. Where is the tower?" Aelita asked, looking around.

_"North of your position," _Jeremy said. _"And you better get __going;__ you've got three Krabes approaching from the opposite direction."_

"Krabes?" Sissi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not something you want to meet," Aelita told her, beginning to run in the direction of the tower. William and Sissi exchanged confused glances, but figured it was best to not ask, and hurried after the quickly disappearing Aelita.

--

Ulrich sighed with relief as he finally finished all his work, gathering the stack of papers and dumping them Mrs. Hertz's desk. He then scurried away before the teacher could even consider trying to hold him back any longer.

As Ulrich made his escape down the hallway he pulled out his cell phone and punched in Jeremy's number, lifting the phone to his ear as he hurried down the stairs.

_"Ulrich, are you finished working?" _Jeremy asked. _"Because we could really use your help right now."_

"Yeah, I'm on my way," Ulrich said, making his way towards the door. "How's Odd doing?" he asked curiously. Jeremy's response was an exasperated sigh.

_"He's been nothing but nuisance," _Jeremy said. _"So I locked him in the elevator."_

"Good one," Ulrich said, reaching the building's double doors. "Alright Jeremy, I'm about to leave the…uh, Jeremy?"

_"Yeah?"_

"I think I've discovered Xana's attack," Ulrich said, looking out the window of the doors.

_"What?" _Jeremy asked, sounding curious.

Ulrich looked through the little window on the door, nervously eyeing the water lapping at the door handles. "It's the rain. He's flooding out the school."

--

"He's doing what?" Sissi asked as she ran, Aelita and William beside her.

_"Flooding the school with a torrential rain storm," _Jeremy said, sounding worried. _"Ulrich says that the water has started to flood the first floor, and the students still trapped in the building have been moved to the second floor for now. __But that's not your biggest problem." _Jeremy added. _"Those Krabes are catching up with you."_

Just as Jeremy finished his sentence, a laser found its way to the ground at Sissi's feet. She yelped, looking up at the source of the lasers.

"I'm guessing that's a Krabe," Sissi said, staring up at the large monster. Aelita nodded as two more of the monsters appeared.

"Yep," she said. "That's a Krabe."

--

Jeremy sat at his computer, watching worriedly as the Krabes converged on his friends. Just then his phone began to ring. He glanced at the ID, then answered it.

"Ulrich, what's going on at the school?" he asked.

_"It's nothing good," _Ulrich said. _"The water's still getting in. And to make matters worse, Xana somehow got the first floor windows and doors open. He had almost the entire first floor underwater."_

"Can you get everyone up to the higher floors?" Jeremy asked, eyes widening with worry. Ulrich's answer caused that worry to only grow.

_"No, we've tried, but it seems Xana has sealed all the doors leading up the third floor," _Ulrich said, sounding slightly panicked. _"Oh no,"_ he suddenly whispered, making Jeremy all the more tense.

"What? What's happening?"

_"You'd better make sure Aelita gets to that tower fast," _Ulrich said. _"Not only is Xana flooding us with rain, but now he's burst the pipes."_

**And you have it, the attack begins. How will our heros ever survive? I dunno. Maybe it will be by the ghost I think are in my computer. I swear they are. See, today I was typing along, minding my own business, when the cord on my laptop just gets pulled out (I wasn't moving the thing or anything, and it just flew out of its plug!). And then the cursor started being weird. I wasn't even touching the little pad dude, and it just stated drifting across the screen. It was ubber freaky...**


	12. Chapter 12

**Oh gosh, that chapter took FOREVER to write. Darn you writers block!...and yeah, a little of it was pure procrastination...but really, this was one tough chapter to get out. Hopefully it doesn't seem way forced. And I promise, no more waits like that. Ever. So anyway, on with the story! (and make sure you read the note at the end of the chapter!)**

Lasers peppered the ground as the three Krabes went after their targets. Aelita released her wings and lifted into the air, shooting over one of the Krabes, while William ducked behind his sword and blocked another. Sissi spun her staff to knock away a laser as she joined William.

"Now what?" she asked, her staff retracting. William shrugged.

"I don't know, I've never fought these things before," he said.

"It's just like the other monsters," Aelita shouted, forming an energy sphere in her hand. "Just hit the eye on their backs." She then launched the sphere at the large eye on the back of the Krabe nearest her. It caused the body of the Krabe to burst into pieces, followed a moment later by its scythe-like legs.

William looked over at Sissi, who shrugged. "Looks easy enough," she said. She then turned and leapt out from behind the boy's sword and began running towards the remaining Krabes. One of the Krabes turned to fire on her, but Sissi nimbly sidestepped the shot, pulling out her staff and re-extending it.

With a shout she leapt forward, brandishing her weapon wildly. She landed on the nearest Krabe's leg, scrambling up it and onto the Krabe's back. With a grin she swung her staff around, extending its blade and slamming it into the center monster's large eye. She then jumped away as the Krabe burst into pieces.

"Ha-ha!" she shouted once she hit the ground, reveling in her victory. Sissi then turned to the remaining Krabe. "You two go," she shouted to William and Aelita. "I can take care of this one."

"Are you sure?" Aelita asked, watching the Krabe line up a shot on Sissi. The girl nodded.

"Yeah, I've got this," she told them. "So, go!"

And they went.

--

Ulrich wandered along the second floor hallway, searching for a familiar figure.

"Looking for someone?" a voice asked behind him, causing him to jump. Ulrich then spun around, turning to find Yumi standing behind him, a grin on her face.

"Yumi, have you heard from Jeremy?" he asked, jumping right to the point. She shook her head.

"No, why?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"Guess," Ulrich said, looking a tad grim.

"Xana." Yumi said. Ulrich nodded. "Figures. What's he doing now?"

"He's flooding the school," Ulrich told her, looking around. "The rain flooded all the way up past the doors downstairs, blocking us inside. Now he's using the pipes to flood the inside as well."

"Sounds fun," Yumi said, sighing. "Are the others on Lyoko?" Ulrich nodded.

"Yes. Although, last time I checked, they were up against a couple of Krabes."

"I'm sure they're fine," Yumi said. "They'll probably have the tower deactivated before the water reaches the second floor."

--

Sissi grinned as the last Krabe was officially destroyed.

"Alright, Jeremy," she called up to the sky. "I believe I'm done here."

_"Good,"_ Jeremy said. _"Aelita and William are already pretty far ahead of you, and I don't see any other monsters approaching. You can just stay put if you want and wait for the others to deactivate the tower."_

"Sounds good to me," Sissi said, leaning back and checking her nails.

"Sounds good to me too," a second voice said, getting Sissi's attention. She quickly spun around to face the voice, and gasped at who she saw.

--

Aelita and William were running along a narrow forest path, the tower glowing not far ahead of them.

"So, do you think Sissi was able to take care of those Krabes?" William asked. Aelita shrugged.

"Jeremy, did she?" she asked.

_"She beat the Krabe, but then she was attacked by something that devirtualized her. I couldn't figure out what it was, and Sissi hasn't come up from the scanner room yet, so be careful."_

William and Aelita exchanged a surprised glance. The news made Aelita nervous. Last time some unknown enemy showed up and took someone out, it ended in the loss of a member of their group.

"Is it headed this way?" she asked Jeremy.

_"I don't know," _Jeremy told her, sounding worried. _"I can't track it with the computer. It could be right behind you and I wouldn't know."_

"Great," William said. "I love surprises."

"Don't get too over confident William," Aelita warned. "You never know when and unexpected enemy could just show up and surprise you."

Just as Aelita finished her sentence a glowing projectile suddenly shot between then, burying itself in the ground a few feet away. The pair stopped and spun around to see who their attacker was. Aelita couldn't stop the gasp that escaped with who she saw.

Standing a few feet away, lowering his arm, was Odd. Aelita first felt joy at the sight of her friend, but this was quickly replaced by fear as she realized this was not the Odd she knew. His appearance had been changed from what she knew him as. His outfit had been changed from the familiar purple color to a blindingly bright white. Parts of his armor and the stripes on his body had all been colored a dark, almost blood red. Even his hair had been changed to white, with a red spot in the middle. And in the center of his chest, in place of the normal picture, was a big black eye of Xana.

Aelita brought up her defenses, just as beside her William lowered his. "Odd?" he asked, taking a step forward. The cat like warrior brought his arm up again, aiming at William.

"William, careful," Aelita said. "He's being controlled by Xana."

"So, what do we do?" William asked, raising his sword. It was Odd who answered him

"We fight."

--

Ulrich and Yumi edged away from the door to the stairs, watching warily as the water form downstairs began seeping under the door.

"So, what now?" Ulrich asked.

"We should try and get up to then next floor," Yumi said, turning away from the water and heading down the hall. Ulrich followed her as she lead the way towards the double doors down at the other end of the hallway, which lead to the next flight of stairs. When she reached them Yumi gave the doors a tug, and was surprised when they didn't open.

"They're stuck," she told Ulrich, stepping back to give him a turn at the door. He couldn't get them open either.

"Great," Ulrich said, letting his hands drop to his side. "Could this get worse?"

"Um, yes," Yumi said, pointing to the bottom of the door. Water was leaking out from under them as well, causing Ulrich to sigh.

"Let's hope the others get to the tower soon."

--

Aelita leapt into the air, extending her wings as she worked to dodge a barrage of Odd's arrows. On the ground William was doing the same, using his sword to knock the attacks back at his pursuer. One of the arrows made contact, drawing Odd's attention directly to William.

"Go Aelita, I'll keep him distracted!" he shouted, lunging at the warrior. Aelita didn't question the order, quickly flying off. Down on the ground Odd realized with was happening, but wasn't given a chance to follow after the winged girl, as William jumped in his way.

"Not so fast," he said, raising his sword. "First you have to get through me." Odd glared at the boy, then brought his arm up to face him, his hand held in a loose fist.

_Why don't you show him our newest weapon? _a voice asked, causing the eye on Odd's chest to glow.

"That must be Xana," William said, narrowing his eyes. "So what does he mean 'new weapon'?"

"This," Odd said, grinning a grin that exposed elongated canines. As he spoke two curved rods shot from the sides of his raised arm, forming a single curved line across the back of Odd's hand. A small block then appeared on the back of his hand. From the block two strings shot out to connect to the ends of the curved bar.

"What do you think of my crossbow?" Odd asked, pulling the block back to his elbow. A glowing arrow materialized across his arm. William lifted his sword baseball style, preparing to defend himself against this new weapon. The action made Odd smile.

"This is going to be fun."

--

Ulrich and Yumi looked nervously around themselves at the hallway that was about waist deep with water.

"What do you think we should do know?" Yumi asked. Ulrich stood beside her, looking around nervously.

"How about we open a window?" he asked curiously. "Let the water have a way to drain out."

"Sounds as good a plan as any," Yumi decided. With that she began leading the way into the nearest room. It was a science lab, one end of the room filled with desks, with a lab area full of sinks on the other. She passed all of these, wading her way over to one of the large windows across the room.

"Great," she growled, once she tried opening it. "This is stuck too."

"So is this one," Ulrich said, trying another window. Just then the door across the room slammed shut, startling the pair. The exchanged frightened looks, then half swam back to the door, both trying to get it to open. But like the windows, it was stuck fast.

"It couldn't get any worse than this," Ulrich declared, leaning against a wall. Then suddenly, with a bang, the taps all across the room burst apart, spewing water into the room.

"Ulrich," Yumi said. "Stop talking."

--

Aelita flew through the air, not far from the tower now. As she flew she shouted up to the sky.

"Jeremy," she yelled, "I know who attacked Sissi, it was Odd!"

_"I know, Sissi just told me,"_ Jeremy said. _"And it looks like he just took out William as well. And with one hit! Be careful Aelita, his powers must have been enhanced by Xana. So watch out, __because__ he's heading your way!"_

Aelita nodded and continued flying. She was just about to the tower when something suddenly flew past her. She spun to see Odd running almost underneath her. He fired again, taking advantage of her position. His arrow flew up, striking Aelita through the wing. It caused the glowing appendage to disappear, dropping Aelita to the ground. Luckily she landed right outside the tower.

"No!" Odd shouted, firing off another arrow. Aelita ducked aside to dodge it, watching the weapon imbed itself in the side of the tower. She then scurried inside it, the angered cries of her friend at her back.

--

"I'm blaming you for this," Yumi shouted to Ulrich as the pair floated just below the ceiling of the room. Ulrich just glared back, for at that moment that water rose to high for him to speak. He and Yumi did their best to take deep breaths before the water completely filled the room. They began sinking down as they held onto their mouthfuls of air. It was just as they began feeling the need for fresh air that they were greeted with the very welcome sight of the bright white light of the return trip.

**Okay well, I tried to make this chapter a little longer to make up for its lateness. Also, I wish to use this authors note to present a proposition to you all. You see, I have a Code Lyoko story I wish ti write, but it will need like, twelve OCs. And since I'm running dry of ideas, I was hoping you all could give me some! I need OC's from types of 'alternate' Lyokos I also need sectors for these two alternate Lyoko worlds (plus names for them). All OC ideas welcome. They can be a character from one of your own stories, just an idea you have, or even a self insert. I'll take them all. This story won't be showing up till like, mid January time, but ideas now are needed! Please offer anything you have!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Lo and behold, chapter thirteen has arrived! I had tried to keep it short, but the words just kept flowing! Hopefully this means the end of my writers block! I hope so. Must be from all the wonderful reviews and amazing ideas I've been receiving. Speaking of which, a note to my reviewers- You guys rock. Seriously.**

Ulrich sat on Jeremy's bed, his head resting in his hands. Beside him Yumi was staring at the group across the room with a slightly stunned look on her face.

"It was Odd?" she asked after a moment of silence. Those across from her nodded. They had just finished telling Ulrich and Yumi about what had happened on Lyoko while they had been stuck in the school. It wasn't something the pair was overly pleased to hear.

"And he was able to beat you with one attack?" Ulrich asked William, who nodded.

"He used some kind of crossbow thing," he said. "It wasn't good for very rapid fire, since he had to keep reloading it, but it's powerful."

"He seems undefeatable," Sissi sighed, falling into Jeremy's computer chair. "How do you plan on stopping him?" At this Ulrich actually gave a slight smile.

"No, not undefeatable," he said. "I know how he fights. Odd may be quick and unpredictable with his attack, but when it comes to defense, he falls short. He only has a small shield to defend himself, and he's so hot headed that he doesn't think about using it much."

"But if Xana's in control, can't he just fix that?" Sissi asked.

"No, he actually can't," Jeremy said, lighting up as a thought hit him. "I've been going over everything you've said about Odd, and it seems like Xana may not have complete control. If he did, then why would he need to speak with him to tell him what to do instead of just making him do it? That doesn't make sense."

"Jeremy has a point," Aelita agreed. "Although, I don't think it was entirely Odd that we saw. When he saw me, he didn't seem to recognize who I was, like he didn't remember."

"It's possible he didn't," Jeremy said. "Xana might have erased his memory so that he would be more willing to fight you."

"That makes sense," Yumi said, nodding. "Our Odd would never attack us willingly. Speaking of him, I wonder where he is now."

--

Odd stood in the center of the top room of Lyoko. He seemed to be waiting for someone, or something.

_You did well, _a voice hissed, creeping its way into the room. Odd looked over to his left just in time to see a black smoke creeping towards him. When it was about a foot away from the boy it stopped, beginning to take a form and solidify. Odd raised an eyebrow when he realized what form it was.

_Do you like it?_ The big black cat asked, prowling towards Odd. _I wanted to…fit in_.

"Sure," Odd said, just shaking his head as the cat Xana came to stand in front of him. Xana just gave a toothy grin, flashing gleaming ebony fangs.

_So, Odd, what did you think of your new…friends? _Xana asked, beginning to slowly circle Odd. The warrior didn't take his eyes of the cat as he answered.

"Weak," he said. "The boy with the sword was defeated with a single shot; the rat girl didn't last much longer."

_And the pink haired girl?__ Aelita?_Xana purred with curiosity. _She was able to escape you._

"It was something that won't happen again," Odd assured.

_S__ee that it doesn't, _the cat said, scarlet eyes flashing. _Weakness will not be tolerated from my warriors._ Odd bowed his head.

"I understand. Next time I face them, she will be the first to go." Xana grinned at Odd's announcement, coming to stand before the boy once more.

_Good._

--

Ulrich sat in his science class, once again missing out on a lesson that was sue to be important, due to his distraction. A distraction that happened to be short and have blonde hair and look exactly like the clone who was sitting next to Ulrich. A clone who was currently attempting some sort of advanced origami with the pages of his text book. Ulrich had considered telling him to knock it off, but decided not to ruin the guy's fun.

And so Ulrich just continued to sit and be distracted. He was so distracted that he didn't notice the note that was tossed onto the desk below his nose until the clone to a quick break from his art to point it out. Ulrich gave the note a curious glance, and then pulled it open. It was written in Jeremy's neat lettering, although it looked a little rushed. It only held two words.

_Xana's attacking._

Ulrich's eyes widened and he turned to look at the blonde behind him. Jeremy just showed him his phone, which he had recently connected to the tower monitoring system. Its screen was flashing red. Ulrich was quick to take action.

"Mrs. Hertz," he said, jumping up. "Um, Odd doesn't feel very good. May I take him to the infirmary?"

"I don't feel ba-" but Odd was quickly cut off by a kick under the table, making him groan.

"See Mrs. Hertz, he doesn't feel good at all."

"Yes, yes, you can take him," Mrs. Hertz said, eyeing the book the Odd clone had decorated.

"Thank you," Ulrich said, grabbing the clone and dragging him quickly from the room, wanting to leave before the teacher changed her mind. He then waited a few seconds in the hall for Jeremy and Aelita to join him. Once they did the group hurried from the building, heading for the forest, and the hidden entrance to the factory path.

"Did you tell Yumi?" Ulrich asked, heading into the trees.

"Yes," Jeremy said. "She told me she would meet us at the manhole." And so she did, showing up with William just as the quartet reached the sewer's entrance. Quick greeting were exchanged, and then the group disappeared into the tunnel, heading for the factory and Lyoko.

--

_"Ready?"_ Jeremy asked, addressing the group in the scanner room.

"Yes Jeremy," Yumi called. "Ulrich, William, and I are going in first. Aelita and Sissi will follow."

_"Alright," _Jeremy said. A moment later the sounds of a clicking keyboard filled the room, and then the three scanners slid shut. _"Transfer Ulrich, Transfer William, Transfer Yumi. Scanner. Virtualization."_

--

The trio landed on Lyoko, quickly standing up and examining their surroundings. A few moments later they were joined by Aelita and Sissi.

_"Okay, the tower you want is west of your location."_

"Okay, we're on it," Ulrich shouted, the group turning and heading in the indicated direction. As they ran he turned back up to the sky. "Hey Jeremy, any sign of Xana's attack?"

--

"None," Jeremy said, typing away at his computer. "I'm searching news reports now for any signs of Xana like activity, but so far I haven't found anything. But I'll keep looking."

_"Okay,"_ Ulrich said. _"What are you doing with the clone while you do this?" _Ulrich asked.

"I've locked him in the elevator aga-" but Jeremy suddenly cut himself off, turning to stare wide eyed at the elevator. A few seconds later a bang sounded against the metal doors.

"Release me!" yelled the clone's voice, overlaid with a mechanical sound that had Jeremy come to recognize. He then slammed against the doors again.

"Ulrich," Jeremy said, not looking away from the elevator. "I think I found Xana's plan."

_"Yeah?__ What?" _Ulrich asked.

"It's the clone. Xana's taken it over."

--

Ulrich faltered slightly at this news, turning to look at the others worriedly, a feeling they seemed to share.

"Come on," he said, turning back around and beginning to run faster. "We need to get to the tower as quickly as possible." With that the group took off, sprinting across the barren land f the ice sector. Soon Sissi and William over took Ulrich, who was staying close to Aelita. Yumi stayed a ways behind to watch the group's rear.

"Aelita!" a voice suddenly shouted, causing the three at the back of the group to stop. Slowly Ulrich and Aelita turned to find a figure that was wonderfully familiar and frighteningly strange.

"Odd," Ulrich gasped, eyes widening at the sight of his friend. Odd showed no recognition of the boy, his full attention on Aelita. "Aelita, I believe we need to have a rematch to fight." He then raised his arm, arming his laser arrows. "Let's see what you can do."

**So there we go! I would like to say that the OC request from last chapter was answered with wonderful enthusiasm, and all of you who gave ideas, I thank you very much. Two days and I had all the characters I needed! Also, I would like to leave a note to my stalker, my advisor, and the poor person I left hanging over lava fighting with Odd. You guys are crazy amazing, and I dedicate my next two chapters to you guys! They were the first chapters ever written for this story. Ever. So, they're like the first Code Lyoko story stuff I ever wrote. Thanks to you guys I've been able to take those (at the time unfinished) chapters and make a full blown story (that people actually think is kinda good!!!), something I never thought I would get a chance to do. So, Thank you. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Oooh, what will our group do now that they're faced with Evil Odd? Is Odd really as evil as he seems? Read on and find out!**

"Aelita, hide!" Ulrich shouted, drawing one of his swords and facing Odd. Aelita nodded, heading for a nearby outcropping of ice. Odd watched her go, a grin on his face.

"You think you can protect her?" he asked, raising his arm. "I'll make quick work of you, and then she'll be next."

"We'll see about that. Supersprint!" Ulrich shouted, rocketing forward towards Odd. He swung the sword back, taking careful aim before sweeping it towards his opponent. Odd dodged the attack, leaping into the air and firing off a volley of arrows at Ulrich.

Ulrich brought his sword up, knocking away most of the arrows. The last one slipped through, however, hitting him the leg. Ulrich stumbled back as Odd pounced at him, his crossbow springing open. Ulrich reacted on instinct, swinging his sword around and catching Odd in the stomach, tossing him aside. Odd landed on his back, quickly rolling to his paws.

He wasn't able to do anything though, as Yumi was suddenly upon him, her fans hitting him one after another. "Ulrich, get Aelita to the tower!" Yumi shouted, catching her fans and turning to face Odd.

"Alright, be careful," Ulrich said, running back to where Aelita was hiding. She had been joined by Sissi and William, and was filling them in with what was going on. "Ready to go?" Ulrich asked once he reached them. The trio nodded, and the group took off.

Odd watched them go with a frown, his overboard materializing next to him. "You won't escape me that easily," he growled, leaping onto the board.

"No you don't!" Yumi shouted, launching one of her fans. It almost hit its mark, but Odd dodged it at the last minute, snatching the weapon out of the sky. He then tossed it back at Yumi, following it up with two arrows. Yumi, not expecting the attack, took the fan to her chest, followed by one of the arrows hitting her stomach and the other impacting her leg.

_"Yumi, you just lost sixty life points," _Jeremy shouted, _"What happened?"_

"It was Odd, he attacked me. And now he's after the others. I need you to send me my overwing."

_"Alright, it's on its way."_

--

"Jeremy, what's going on between Yumi and Odd?" Ulrich shouted, vaulting over a gap in the icy path.

_"Yumi couldn't beat Odd, and he got away from her. But she's giving chase on her overwing. But that's not the only thing you have to worry about. There are three Bloks __right behind you__."_

"Alright, thanks Jeremy. Sissi, think you can handle them?"

"Of course," Sissi said, falling back. She reached down, pulling her staff from its holster and extending it as the first Blok came into view. With a yell Sissi leapt at the Blok, slamming the end of her staff into the Blok's eye. The Blok gave a shudder and fell to the ground, bursting apart. Its place was immediately taken, however, by a second Block, which began rapidly firing lasers at Sissi.

Sissi swung her staff furiously, blocking the attacks and sending them back at the Blok. Just as one of the deflected lasers found its mark, the third Blok fired on Sissi from behind, knocking her to the ground.

"So that's how you want to play it, huh? Well then, take this!"

Sissi jumped back up, swinging her staff back and extending its long blade. She then charged the Blok, swinging the weapon around a stabbing it into the monster's side. Just as the monster disappeared something flew past overhead, startling Sissi. She looked back to see that it was Odd on his overboard, and he was following the others. Sissi prepared to go after him when Yumi suddenly pulled up beside her on her overwing.

"Need a lift?"

Sissi grinned, climbing onto the overwing. She hung on tight as Yumi took off in a burst of speed, trying to catch up with Odd. At first he seemed to be too far ahead of them to reach in time, but slowly they began gaining on Xana's warrior. With a twitch of his ears he realized how close they had gotten. He quickly spun around, firing off a volley of arrows at the girls.

Yumi took one of the arrows to the chest as the rest slammed into the overwing. The vehicle was destroyed by the on slot, sending its riders tumbling to the ground. Odd watched them fall with a grin, the turned and took off after the others once more.

"Jeremy!" Yumi shouted up at the sky, "let Ulrich and the others know that Odd is on his way. Sissi and me are on foot, so they'll have to face him alone for a while."

_"Okay, I'll let them now, but hurry. We don't want to leave them alone with Odd to long."_

--

_"Watch out you three, Odd is headed straight for you, and Yumi and Sissi won't be__ able to get there right away. Wh__e__n he reaches__ you, you'll be on your own"_

"Okay, thanks Jeremy," Ulrich shouted back, moving in closer to William and Aelita. "When Odd arrives, I'll stay back and fight him. You two keep heading for the tower."

"But you can't beat him on your own," William argued, shaking his head.

"I don't have to beat him. Just hold him off long enough for you two to reach the tower," Ulrich responded. "Now like I said, when Odd arrives I'll stop and fight him, you two keep going."

Neither Aelita nor William seemed all too thrilled with this plan, but they didn't argue with its logic. One person staying behind and getting devirtualized made a lot more sense than all three. They continued on a little longer, but hadn't really gone that far when the first laser arrows began hitting the ground around them.

"Keep going you two!" Ulrich shouted, turning to face Odd. The cat-like warrior leapt off his overboard, resting his hands on his hips, a smirk on his face.

"I don't think they'll be going anywhere," he said. Ulrich turned to see what Odd meant, and sighed at what he saw. William and Aelita's path had been blocked off by three Bloks. The pair glanced around in search of another escape route, but soon realized that there wasn't one to be had.

"Now what?" William asked, summoning his sword in a puff of smoke.

"You take care of the Bloks," Ulrich said, pulling out his swords, "then get to the tower. Like I said, I'll take care of Odd."

"Okay. Good luck," and with that said, William launched into his attack. Odd immediately turned his attention to the fight, quickly pulling up his crossbow and preparing a shot. But Ulrich was quicker. He jumped at Odd, using his sword to knock the crossbow aside and send the arrow harmlessly into the virtual sea.

Odd let out a frustrated yell at his lost shot, swinging his fist around and punching Ulrich in the jaw. Ulrich, who was honestly sort of expecting the punch, was tossed roughly to the ground.

"When will you stop interfering with my plans!?" Odd shouted, his voice overlaid with Xana's own. He then turned his crossbow on Ulrich, a new arrow materializing in it. Ulrich brought his sword up defensively, but knew it would be of little use against the stronger weapon. But to his surprise, Odd never fired.

Ulrich watched in utter confusion as Odd lowered his crossbow, staring straight at Ulrich the entire time. He was breathing hard, and he seemed to be straining against something Ulrich couldn't see. The eye of Xana on Odd's forehead suddenly pulsed and, with a growl, Odd raised his weapon again.

But this time he fired it in William's direction, while only firing a regular laser arrow at Ulrich. Ulrich raised his sword, blocking the attack; which knocked his sword away from him. He narrowed his eyes in confusion as Odd continued to watch him, a look that Ulrich couldn't identify flashing across his features.

"Odd?" he asked quietly, stepping forward. Odd continued to stare at him. Slowly he tilted his head to the side, his tail swaying slowly as he examined the other boy closely.

"Odd, what are you doing?" Ulrich asked. He took another step forward, reaching his hand slowly towards the shorter boy. Odd leaned forward, staring intently at the outstretched hand.

"Ulrich," William shouted, startling both boys, "Look out!" Ulrich looked up, and was shocked to see a Blok standing less the five feet from him. Its eye was glowing bright red as it prepared its attack. Ulrich looked behind him and suddenly realized that, to his horror, he was standing at the edge of the path. One shot from the Blok might not devirtualize him, but it would send him toppling into the sea below. And he had no way of defending himself from the Blok. As the Blok fired its attack, Ulrich could do nothing but prey.

Just as the laser was fired, shooting towards him, he felt something slam into his side, knocking him away from the attack. He looked back to see Odd firing on the Blok, destroying it as the laser impacted him, knocking Odd over the path and towards the sea below.

**Whoo, what did you think? You know, I gotta stop with the 'omfg, what's gonna happen next?' endings...but no worries, it'll be up tomorrow!!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Ugh, it's too early for this being awake stuff...but anyway, here's chapter 15. Lets see what's going to happen!**

"Odd!" Ulrich shouted, grabbing for the boys hand. His fingers brushed against the purple paw, but were unable to grab a hold. Instead he was left to watch his friend plummet towards the virtual sea. "No!" he yelled, just as something few over him. He looked up to see Aelita plunging towards Odd.

Aelita dove through the air, speeding towards Odd. She grabbed hold of his outstretched hand just before he hit the sea, her wings spreading out to stop their decent. Odd reached up with his other hand, grabbing her arm as she lifted them back onto the icy ground. Yumi came to great them.

"Wow, you two. That was really close." Odd nodded, giving Aelita a smile as she let him go, which she returned.

"Yeah, thanks Aelita," he said, "You've just made this easier." He then lifted his hand, aiming his arm at her chest and firing. Yumi jumped to stop him, pushing Aelita out of the way of the attack.

Yumi cried out as the arrow hit her, throwing her back and devirtualizing her before she hit the ground. Odd watched her disappear, then turned to Aelita. "You're next."

"Not if I can help it," Ulrich said, drawing his sword and running towards Odd. "Take this!" he shouted, swinging his sword around in an attack aimed at taking off Odd's head. Odd brought his arms up, blocking the attack with his shield, and using the force of the attack to launch himself away from the other boy. He then brought his arm up, aiming it at Ulrich.

"Oh no you don't!"

Odd spun around at the shout, and came face to face with the end of Sissi's staff. It smashed into the side of his face, knocking him aside.

"Thanks Sissi," Ulrich said, drawing his other sword. "No prob-ah!" Sissi shouted, cut off by two of Odd's laser arrows. She swung her staff around to block two more as she leapt away from her attacker.

_"Be careful Sissi,"_ Jeremy called, _"you've only got __thirty__ life points left!"_

"Alright Jeremy," she called back, taking a defensive stance. Then to the others she shouted, "Head for the tower, I'll hold him off!"

"No," William said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I still have all my life points. I'll take care of it. You go with Ulrich and Aelita to the tower." Sissi stood her ground, looking like she might argue. But after a moment she nodded, retracting her staff and taking off towards Ulrich and Aelita. Once she joined the group, the three headed for the tower in the distance.

Odd watched them go, and prepared to follow them when William appeared in front of him. "Not so fast Cat boy, I'm your opponent now. Lest see if we can't settle our score." Odd watched the others disappear, then turned to William. He gave the boy a fanged grin as his crossbow snapped open.

"Bring it on."

--

"What's happening?" Yumi asked, appearing by Jeremy's chair. Jeremy didn't look up from his keyboard, where he was typing rapidly as he answered.

"Sissi, Ulrich, and Aelita are heading for the tower. William stayed back to fight off Odd."

"Do you think he can beat him?" Yumi asked, looking worried. Jeremy shrugged.

"Who knows," he said, hitting enter on his keyboard. He then addressed those on Lyoko. "Ulrich, I'm sending you your overbike."

--

Ulrich turned as he ran, his overbike materializing beside him. "Thanks Jeremy!" he shouted as he jumped on it, steering it over to Sissi so she could jump on as well. Behind them Aelita activated her wings. The group stayed close, speeding towards the nearing tower.

"We're almost there," Aelita said, flying slightly ahead of Ulrich.

_"Alright,"_ Jeremy said, _"Be careful, you have a welcoming party. Two Krabes at twelve O'clock."_

"I'm on it," Sissi said, leaping off the overbike and drawing her staff. It didn't take her long to reach the first Krabe, which immediately began to fire on her. She bounced away from the laser fire, circling around the Krabe and pouncing onto one of its legs. The Krabe scurried in a circle, trying to dislodge Sissi as she scrambled up onto his back.

Sissi swung her staff around, extending its blade before slamming it down on the Krabe's back. She then leapt away as the Krabe stumbled and exploded. "Ha, take that," she said, grinning. But her triumph was short lived as the second Krabe fired at her, devirtualizing her with a single hit.

The second Krabe was quickly dispatched by Ulrich, leaving the way to the tower open for Aelita. Ulrich joined her as she continued down the thin path leading to the island of land that held the tower. The pair was surprised to reach the island, only to find it swarming with Kankrelats.

"Uh, Jeremy," Ulrich said, "we have a bit of a problem. When is William getting here?"

_"He won't, he was just devirtualized. You'll need to find your own way to get rid of the Kankrelats."_

"Great," Ulrich grumbled, drawing his swords and taking a defensive stance. "Ready Aelita?" Aelita nodded, activating her wings again. "Alright, on my mark. Ready…go!"

Aelita shot into the air, flying over the Kankrelat swarm. The little monsters were quick to start firing on her, scrambling for a good shot. On the ground, Ulrich prepared to stop them from getting one.

"Triplicate!" he shouted, splitting apart. The trio then sprinted into the mob, swords swinging wildly in an attempt to destroy as many of the monsters as possible. His attack cleared a path through the Kankrelats, leaving space for Aelita to reach the tower. Once she did she landed and entered the tower, leaving Ulrich just as a final laser devirtualized him.

Aelita hurried to the center of the tower, rising up to the platform where she could finally deactivate it. The familiar screen appeared, which she pressed her hand against. The screen showed her name, followed by the words 'code Lyoko'. Aelita grinned as the tower deactivated.

"Alright Jeremy, we have the tower back. You can bring me in now."

_"Okay. You'll be home in just a second."_

--

Outside Odd watched with a growl as the aura around the tower returned to its green glow. He fired an arrow angrily at one of the Kankrelats scurrying around his feet, kicking another as he felt Aelita's energy leave the tower.

_Do not worry, _Xana whispered, _we will have another chance. They will be defeated. Although, your moment of weakness will cost you._

"I'm sorry," Odd said, turning away from the tower. "It shouldn't have happened. And it won't happen again."

_Good, _Xana hissed. _Now, return to me. We must plan our next move._

"Yes sir," Odd said, his overboard materializing beside him. He jumped on it, taking one last look at the lost tower. Then, with a final shot at one of the Kankrelats, he was gone.

--

"Good job you guys," Jeremy said, leaning forward in his chair as Ulrich and Aelita stepped out of the elevator. "You've got our clone back from Xana. And now that the new shields for the tower are set up, Xana won't be able to get a hold of him again."

"Which leaves us time to find a way to free the real Odd," Ulrich said, taking a seat on the map projector.

"Speaking of which, have you found anything?" Yumi asked, sitting down beside Ulrich.

"Actually, I have," Jeremy said, spinning his chair around to face the computer. He then began typing away, pulling up screens of data. "There's a small area in Carthage I've found that, during the time he's not running around Lyoko, gives off an energy signal identical to Odd's."

"So, are you saying this is where he goes to recharge or something?" Sissi asked.

"Yes, something like that."

"So why don't we just go there now?" Ulrich asked, jumping to his feet. "We could just storm in there, grab Odd, and be done with all this!"

Jeremy sighed, shaking his head. "I wish it was just that easy," he said, "but the area is very heavily protected. From what it looks like, Xana couldn't protect the spot more if he was standing guard himself."

"So what do we do?" William asked.

"For now, there's nothing we can do," Jeremy said. "I think we should go home. All of you need to rest. We can tackle this problem tomorrow."

**Not too much of a cliffhanger, I hope. Hmm...not much else to say. And now it is 5:40, and I need to go get ready for school. Again, Ugh.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hmm, I have found the last chapter to be lacking in good continuity. Ick. See, this is what happens when chapters are written out of order. Not sure if this one will be better. So, I'll just cross my fingers while you tell me how I did.**

It was late when Ulrich finally returned to his room, dropping into his bed with a heavy sigh. Across from him lay Odd's clone, fast asleep on the floor, another of his…unique habits. Ulrich gave the clone a confused look, then shook his head and rolled over in his bed to stare at the wall.

Now that he had some time to stop and think, Ulrich began to focus his thoughts on Lyoko, and Odd. He just couldn't figure it out. If Odd had been so taken over by Xana, like Jeremy had said, then why had he stopped to save him? It just…didn't add up.

Ulrich gave another sigh, breathing out hard through his nose as he burrowed into his bed. These thoughts were just giving him a headache, so for now he pushed them aside. He could think about them tomorrow, once Odd was back home where he belonged.

--

Odd sat on the floor of the small, dimly lit room of Carthage that he called home. His thoughts, which he had let wander, had begun to dwell on his last battle. As soon as he had returned to Carthage Xana had begun a scan on him, what he was searching for, he didn't say. Although Odd didn't know what Xana was looking for, he was pretty sure why.

During the battle for the tower Xana was attempting to take control of, something strange had happened to Odd. He had gone to shoot the boy who was attempting to stop him, as Xana had ordered, when suddenly he found he couldn't. I was very strange. And then, as if things couldn't get worse, he went and saved the stupid boy's life.

It just didn't make sense. He shouldn't even care about these annoying people. They did nothing but foil Xana's plans. But then again, all he did was foil theirs. And they saved his life without so much as a second thought about what that would mean for them. It just didn't add up.

But honestly, Odd found this didn't bother him too much, he'd never really been one for math. But there was something else that did bother him. Two of the members of the evil little group- the girl with the long black hair and the boy with the massive sword.

He wasn't sure why, but Odd felt like they shouldn't have been there. Especially the girl. When he saw her, Odd was almost tempted to pull one of the others aside and ask them what she was doing anywhere near Lyoko. But he had held back the urge, along with the one that demanded he ask why he had been replaced.

Odd gave an angry swipe at his tail, not liking all of the questions and confusion the group of warriors raised in his mind. With a sigh Odd lay down on the floor, curling up and tucking his head in his arms. He was sure that a rest was all he needed to rid himself of these unneeded thoughts.

With a growl he decided those others weren't worth thinking or caring about at all, and especially not worth saving. Next time he saw them he would make sure they failed, and no other thoughts would get in the way.

With that settled Odd prepared to go to sleep. But as sleep came to claim him, Odd couldn't help one last though sneak it's way though his mind.

'That Aelita girl is kind of cute though…'

--

Aelita paused in her eating, giving a sudden sneeze. Beside her Yumi smirked.

"Aelita, someone's thinking about you," she said, taking a bite of her food.

"What?" Aelita asked.

"In Japan they say that when you sneeze, it's because someone is thinking about you." Everyone at the table contemplated Yumi's words, then as one turned to look at Jeremy. The blonde noticed everyone looking at him and blushed.

"What?" he asked, "It's not me."

"This time," Ulrich said, giving his friend a nudge. Jeremy blushed, if possible, even harder.

"Actually, I was thinking about Lyoko," he said, crossing his arms.

"To bad Aelita," Sissi said, giving the other girl a frown. "Looks like Jeremy's already taken by his computer. But that's okay, I'm sure someone else will come along."

"Very funny," Jeremy grumbled as the rest of the table, minus a confused and clueless clone, laughed. "But seriously, I was really thinking about Lyoko. Carthage, actually. I think maybe all of you should try and go there tomorrow."

"Why?" William asked, stabbing at his food absently.

"Why not? I've discovered that the hole Xana made in the Guardian is still there, so you have a way to get past it."

"And find Odd," Ulrich added. Jeremy nodded.

"Yes, and find Odd."

"Will you be able to send us there directly?" Aelita asked. At this, Jeremy shook his head.

"No. I don't think I can direct you through the hole, it's to small. You'll have to take the Transport Orb."

"The what?" Sissi asked, sharing a confused look with William.

"You'll see."

--

"I don't think I like the Transport Orb," Sissi declared, clutching her stomach with one hand, while she held herself up on Ulrich's shoulder with the other one.

"Are you kidding? I thought it was great!" William said, stretching widely, causing his sword to swing around and almost take off Yumi's head. "Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly when he noticed her glare.

_"Focus you two. You really need to be on your game to make it through Carthage in one piece. It isn't like the other sectors."_

"What does he mean 'not like the other sectors'?" Sissi asked curiously. As she asked, the rotating wall of Carthage slowed to a stop. A thin section of the wall opened up, sliding down into the floor.

_"Alright, timer's started," _Jeremy said, _"You have three minutes to get to the key."_

"'The key'? What does that mean?" William asked, confused.

"Don't worry about it," Ulrich said, heading for the opening in the wall. "We'll take care of the key; you and Sissi just worry about keeping the Creepers at bay."

"…Creepers?" Sissi asked, taking off after the group.

"You'll see," Yumi said as the gang made their way through the opening. They came out in a room made of large blue blocks, which seemed to be finishing shifting around.

"Where's the key, Jeremy?" Aelita asked, looking around.

_"Straight ahead of you."_

"I don't see it," Aelita said, looking ahead. Beside her Ulrich looked up with a sigh.

"Looks like this is a job for you Aelita," he said, pointing up. Aelita followed his arm up to the key, which was sitting at the top of the wall, just below the ceiling. Aelita sighed, preparing to spread her wings out when a tall section of the floor suddenly shot up in front of her.

"Creepers!" she shouted, leaping back as the three monsters began firing down on her.

"Now's your chance," Ulrich said, pushing William forward. "You and Sissi go take them out."

"Gladly," Sissi said, leaping forward. She bounced off of a nearby wall and onto the pillar, blade swinging. She made quick work of the first Creeper, slicing it cleanly in half. She used the butt of her staff to knock the second Creeper to the ground below.

William was waiting for it, using his sword to impale the monster. He then transformed into a cloud of blue smoke, shooting up the side of the block. He reached the top, transforming back and swinging his sword, decapitating the last of the Creepers.

Down below the pair; Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita had continued through the room and towards the key. They were soon set upon by the Creepers lining both walls. Yumi didn't stop running, throwing her fans with a flourish. They arced towards the monsters, taking both out simultaneously. To Yumi's left Ulrich was taking care of his own Creeper, tossing his sword javelin style and destroying it.

The group neared the opposite wall and Aelita took flight, heading for the key. William and Sissi watched her go as they rejoined Ulrich and Yumi.

"Is that it?" Sissi asked, looking around.

"No," Ulrich said, "this sector has other ways of fighting back."

"Like what?" William asked. As he finished the question, a large block fell from the ceiling, landing in front of the group.

"Like that!" Yumi shouted, turning and running back towards the exit of the room. The others followed as a second block fell next to the first, right where they had been standing. They continued to run, block after block falling behind them. They were almost back to the room's exit when Sissi tripped, falling behind the group.

Up above Aelita saw what was happening, and sped up in an attempt to make it to the key faster. She was only inches away when she heard Sissi scream, as the block above her began to fall. Aelita stretched her fingers out as far as they would go, tapping the key just as the sound of the block hitting the ground reached her.

--

Sissi sighed as her scanner slid open, resting her head in her hand.

_"Are you okay Sissi?"_ Jeremy asked, sounding worried.

"I think so," Sissi said, climbing unsteadily to her feet. "Although, I feel like I was just run over by a steamroller."

_"Yeah, I've heard that before," _Jeremy said with what sounded suspiciously like a laugh. _"Well, when you're ready come on up, the others are heading for the source of Odd's signal."_

Sissi did as she was told, making her way over to the elevator and climbing in, slamming her hand against the large red button that would take her up to Jeremy. When she arrived on the desired floor she climbed out of the elevator, coming over and sitting down on the edge of the map projector.

"How are they doing?" she asked, glancing up at the computer in a hope that she could understand what it said.

--

"We're doing fine," Yumi shouted, hearing Sissi's question. "We've found the corridor leading to Odd's location, and we're following it now."

"In fact, we're here." Ulrich said. As he spoke, the group emerged out into a wide open room. It wasn't like the other rooms of Carthage. This room didn't have all of the blocks and rectangles that formed the normal Carthage rooms and hallways, but instead contained a smooth white floor and dome shaped walls and ceiling, which was broken only by a wide ledge that circled the entire room.

"Where are we?" Aelita asked, looking around the room in awe.

_"According to my map, the four of you are in a room at the very top of Carthage."_

"Cool," William said, walking into the room. Yumi called after him to come back, but he ignored her. "There's nothing here," he told her. "Jeremy would tell us if there was."

"Jeremy has no control here," a familiar voice said, followed up by a purple laser slamming into William and tossing him to the ground. The others turned to the source of the laser.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ulrich grumbled, drawing his sword. Up on the ledge where he was looking, the source of his annoyance gave him a wave.

"I'm glad you're so happy to see me," Odd said, grinning. "And my new friend," he added, patting the monster he was seated on. It was a Wulf, colored white with a glowing red eye on its forehead. Odd was seated on the Wulf's back, leaning over its neck, crossed arms resting on the monster's head.

_"What's going on?" _Jeremy asked, _"Why did William just lose life points?"_

"Jeremy," Ulrich called back, "We've found Odd."

**And enter my White Wulf, the official sorce of Odd's new wardrobe. Well, tell me what you think! And that includes people who have faved/alerted this fic o' mine. I really want to hear from you too! Let me know what you like/dislike/whatev about this story. Please?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Well, here it is. The last chapter of Toy Soldier. All that we have left is the Epilogue. I've made this chapter almost two pages longer then most chapters, so I hope that makes you feel better. This chapter has some chunky action paragraphs, and lacks the normal amount of dialogue I usually have, but I hope you enjoy anyway.**

Odd grinned at Ulrich's announcement, stretching his arms out in a very cat like manner.

"What? Not happy to see me?" he asked, noting Ulrich's unpleased tone. When he didn't get a response he just grinned wider. "If you won't say hello to me, then I'll just have to come down and greet you instead." The Wulf seemed to then receive some sort of silent command, for at that moment it leapt down from the ledge, slamming to the ground in front of the other warriors. The group moved away from the new threat, steeping back towards the room's door.

"Oh no, we can't have that now, can we?" Odd said, shaking his head. At his words the door to the room slammed shut. He then raised his crossbow, an arrow forming in the weapon. He pointed it straight at Ulrich.

"Odd, don't do this," Ulrich said, taking another step back. "You don't want to do this."

"No, I think I do," Odd responded, leaping of his Wulf. "You see, back in the ice sector I couldn't attack you. I don't know why, but I couldn't. Now I want to find out why that was. So you will fight me, and no one else will interfere."

With that Odd launched his arrow, then himself at Ulrich. Ulrich, having been distracted by the arrow was slammed to the ground by his friend's tackle. The two then proceeded to engage in an all out fist fight, since neither had weapons good for such close range. Around them Aelita and Yumi were attempting to find away to break them apart, when yet another threat became known.

While Odd and Ulrich fought, and William engaged the Wulf, a large number of Creepers appeared along the ledge surrounding the room, and began firing upon the girls. Aelita immediately took to the air, ducking and dodging through the hail of laser fire, while Yumi made use of her acrobatic skills and began weaving her way across the room. As the girls moved they launched their attacks at the mass of Creepers, hoping to diminish the small army.

Off to one side of the room, William had found himself an unexpectedly tough opponent in the Wulf. He had expected it to be just like the others, but it soon proved not to be when William took a wild swing at the monster's chest, only to be deflected by a small purple shield. William tried to maneuver around the Wulf and attack him from behind, but the Wulf made sure to keep its front, and shield, between its self and the attacking sword.

Meanwhile, Ulrich was busy fighting his own problem. Odd had landed on top of him, immediately leaping into the attack with a hard uppercut to his opponent. Ulrich responded with punch to Odd's nose, knocking the warrior off him. Not thinking of his weapon, he then flung himself at the blonde, getting in two good hits before a fist to his gut had him doubled over. Odd then brought a knee up, slamming it into Ulrich's jaw and knocking the boy to the floor.

"You won't beat me again," Odd declared, stepping back and raising his crossbow once more. But before he could fire, he felt himself hesitate again. Ulrich took advantage of this, jumping up and drawing his sword, which he used to knock Odd's weapon aside. He then slashed the weapon across Odd's chest, sending the cat warrior sliding across the floor. Odd quickly used his momentum to roll into a crouch and fire off to laser arrows at his advisory.

Ulrich took the first one to the chest, but was able to block the second one. This led to a fierce fight that began moving slowly across the room as Odd fired arrow after arrow at his foe, with Ulrich blocking them one after another as he tried to get close enough to his opponent to get another hit. Above them Aelita was still fending off the thirty or so remaining Creepers, with the help of Yumi, who had made it up to the shelf. She was at the moment taking advantage of the less then high intelligence of the monsters, using them as shields and letting their fellow Creepers across the room take them out for her. As she did this she noticed Ulrich's dilemma, and knowing he could use all the help he could get, launched her fans at Odd. She then took two hits, as the Creepers took advantage of her distraction.

Odd heard the attack coming, but couldn't block the first fan in time, the weapon crashing into him and tossing him to the ground. He fired up at the second fan as it approached, destroying it. But even so, the fans did what they were intended to, as was proven when Odd found Ulrich over top of him, sword swinging down at him. Odd quickly rolled away from the attack, finding himself against a wall. He raised his arm to fire at the other warrior, but once again found himself hesitant.

"Why can't I attack you!?" he raged, dropping his arm angrily. To his surprise, Ulrich lowered his weapon.

"Because we're friends, that's why."

"No we aren't," Odd argued, looking enraged. "I don't know you! I would never associate with someone who was against Xana. Especially not with you." He was again surprised when he noticed the other boy looked hurt by his words, but chose to ignore this.

"Yes, you would," Ulrich said. "You and I by fought against Xana. You hate him as much as I do." Odd gave a snort of disbelief at this, but Ulrich thought the white warrior seemed a little unsure.

"Why would I hate Xana?" he asked, and Ulrich thought he heard a drop of honest curiosity in the question. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the Wulf across the room heard it too. Its eye suddenly gave a bright pulse, and it turned to William, dropping its jaws wide. They revealed a cannon, twice as large at the ones belonging to the red and black Wulves. With a muffled roar the weapon fired, its purple laser taking William out with the single shot.

Once it had that out of the way, the Wulf turned and bounded towards the pair across the room. It announced itself with laser fire, almost hitting Ulrich and taking him out. But Ulrich was able to dodge the fire, leaping away from the monster, which quickly positioned its self between Ulrich and Odd. Then with a roar it fired on Ulrich again. Aelita, who noticed this new threat, left the few remaining Creepers to Yumi and flew forward to join the fight.

"Hey, up here!" she shouted to the Wulf, forming an energy sphere and launching it, hitting the monster in the snout. The Wulf immediately retaliated with a laser, which passed a hair's breath away from Aelita, who spun around and begin to fly away. The Wulf gave chase, firing after the elfin girl. Aelita turned and flew straight up, hoping to get some distance between her and the Wulf. Once she had she turned and fired two successive energy spheres at the beast. But it was quick, dodging left then right and avoiding both attacks. It then leapt into the air, firing a shot that knocked Aelita from the sky. It then hit her again as she fell, devirtualizing her before she could hit the ground.

Its work done, the Wulf hurried back to Odd. The warrior quickly mounted the monster and began heading for the self around the room. If Odd couldn't take out the stupid boy, then he would get the girl instead. Ulrich realized this and quickly shouted a warning to Yumi, who was finishing off the last of the Creepers. She turned at the shout, just as the ground below her rumbled ominously. Looking up she found herself face to face with a big white muzzle and a glowing red eye.

"Hello," Odd said, grinning a frightening fanged grin. The Wulf under him growled, and Odd gave a nod. "Go for it." For a moment Yumi was confused as to who the boy was addressing, but then the Wulf dropped its jaws open and fired. Yumi leapt away from the attack, springing back into her hands, and then her feet, grabbing her fans as she went. With a spin she let them fly. The first bounced harmlessly off the Wulf's shield, the second one missing Odd by mere inches. But Yumi quickly brought her hands to her temples, calling the fan back.

Odd heard the weapon returning and quickly jumped away from the Wulf. The Wulf, not realizing the danger, turned its head to see why its rider had decided to disembark. He was met with the sight of a glowing razor edged fan, which was heading straight for his eye. The weapon made quick work of the monster, tearing through the glowing red eye. The monster then roared out in pain, toppling from the self and to the ground below, where he burst apart in a blast of white.

Yumi grinned to herself, watching the Wulf disappear. The grin quickly vanished when she realized there was something she hadn't taken care of. She looked up just in time to see Odd's crossbow firing, its arrow hitting her in the chest and devirtualizing her. Odd stared at the spot where she had stood a moment longer, a pensive look on his face. He then shrugged, jumping down and joining Ulrich on the main floor below.

"Now it's just you and me," he told Ulrich, walking towards him. "And now I will destroy you." Odd then raised his arm, his crossbow loading. But just as he seemed ready to fire he hesitated once again. As Ulrich watch he could almost see the battle happening in Odd's eyes as what he consciously wanted to do fought with his subconscious desire to not attack his friends. And then the embattled look turned to one of fear. At that moment a black fog began to leak into the room, gathering beside Odd. Slowly it began to pack together, becoming the form of a large black cat.

_What wonderful work you have done here Odd, _the cat said, staring at Odd intently. _But it seems you haven't quite finished, have you?_ Odd shook his head. _Well then, you know what you must do, _the cat said, turning to stare at Ulrich. _He is evil, against me. You know that you must destroy him._ Again Odd nodded.

"Yes Xana."

--

"What's happening?" Yumi asked Jeremy, sounding slightly frantic. Jeremy didn't look up from his typing.

"I don't know, I can't get any access to that room," he said, looking frustrated. "I can't even keep track of your life points when you're in that room. It's like you disappear from Lyoko."

"Can't you try and get in it?" Yumi asked, beginning to pace.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" he asked. Yumi sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said, coming to stand by Jeremy's chair.

"It's okay," Jeremy said, flashing Yumi a small smile. "We're all a little high strung from this. I just can't figure out how to get into that room."

"Does the Guardian have anything to do with it?" Sissi asked, standing beside Yumi. Jeremy shrugged.

"I have no idea. I wouldn't think so, since I can see the rest of Carthage. Maybe its becau- wait, I have it! I can see it now," he said suddenly as a window opened on the screen, revealing what was happening in the room. It showed a circle shaped area, with a yellow dot on one end that was Ulrich. Towards the center of the circle was a purple dot that represented Odd. And next to him was a black dot, which represented the last person anyone was expecting, or wanting to see.

--

"Xana let him go!" Ulrich shouted at the big cat, glaring at it with more hatred then he knew he possessed. "Come on Odd, don't do this," he then said, turning to his friend. "I know you don't want to you, or you would have done it already."

_Don't you dare, _Xana growled, seeing the hesitation in Odd. _Attack him!_ Odd continued to stare at Ulrich, still looking unsure. After a moment he locked eyes with Ulrich, and found he couldn't do it. He could attack this boy who called him friend. Because somewhere deep down, he believed him.

"No," he whispered, lowering his arm. Beside him Xana roared with rage.

_How dare you! _He screamed. _You will attack him! Do as I say!_

"No," Odd repeated, turning to the cat. "I won't listen to you anymore. I'm not just some toy for you to play with and make do what you want."

_Fine. _Xana spat. _If you want something done right, _he grumbled under his breath. Then his eyes suddenly flashed brightly and he lunged at Odd, bursting into a cloud of smoke. The smoke slammed into Odd, forcing its way inside him. Odd's white armor slowly bled to black as he was full possessed, the eye on his chest burning red.

Ulrich could only stare wide eyed as the smoke finished disappearing into the other boy. "Odd?" he whispered after a few seconds had passed, where the boy just stared down at the ground. One of the boy's now black ears twitched, and he looked over. Ulrich gasped at the scarlet gaze that met him. Odd seemed to enjoy his look of horror, giving a grin that exposed ebony fangs.

_Looks like I'll have to do this myself._

"Xana!" Ulrich yelled angrily, drawing his other sword and raising them. "Leave him alone!" Xana just gave a menacing chuckle, examining his new look.

_Now why would I do that? _He asked. _This is my soldier. I may do with him what I wish. _With that Xana lunged at Ulrich, fist aimed at the boy's face. Ulrich ducked away just in time, scurrying away from the evil virus. Xana gave a twisted laugh as he fell to all fours and gave chase. _Don't be afraid little boy, _he shouted, _I won't bite!_ Ulrich just continued to run, at a loss of what to do now, until a very welcome voice echoed into the room.

_"Ulrich, what's happening!?" _Jeremy shouted.

"It's Xana," Ulrich shouted back. "He's attacking me, and he's using Odd to do it! He has him completely possessed!"

_"Completely?" _Jeremy asked, sounding surprised and thoughtful. Ulrich shouted a yes, dodging a few laser blasts as he did so. "_Ulrich, I think this is our chance to defeat Xana once and for all," _Jeremy suddenly said as Ulrich was forced to duck another punch, which took out some of the wall behind him.

"What do you mean?" Ulrich shouted.

_"I mean, if Xana is completely in Odd, then killing Odd will destroy Xana once and for all."_

"And what will happen to Odd?" Ulrich shouted back, not liking the sound of this plan.

_"I don't know," _Jeremy said nervously.

"Then I'm not doing it," Ulrich shot right back. "Not if it could mean losing Odd."

_"Ulrich, think about it, this may be the best chance at Xana we ever get," _Jeremy said. _"And even if we lose Odd, don't you think he's rather be gone then be Xana's slave for the rest of his life?"_ Ulrich didn't answer, even though he saw the logic in Jeremy's words. As he realized this, he completely missed the fact that Xana had come up right behind him. The virus leapt on top of him, forcing him to the ground. He then gave the warrior a hard knee in the back.

Ulrich fought back, pushing Xana off and rolling over, giving the monster a hard punch to the face. Xana retaliated with an even harder punch, which made Ulrich see stars. He tried to pin the boy to the floor, but Ulrich grabbed Xana and gave him a hard punch in the gut. As Xana doubled over Ulrich flipped him over, pinning him to the ground. He then grabbed his sword and pointed it at Xana's chest, just as the virus raised his crossbow just below Ulrich's neck.

Xana grinned, giving another of his twisted giggles. _Now what will you do? _He asked. _If you kill me, you may never see your little friend again. If you don't, you still have a chance of getting him back. Will you really risk it? _Ulrich clenched his teeth, knowing that Xana was just trying to get to him. Then he nodded, pressing the sword harder against Xana's chest, right into the center of his red eye.

"Yes," he said. "I won't let Odd be controlled by you anymore." And with that he forced the sword through the monsters glowing eye. At that moment Xana fired his crossbow. And just as Ulrich was devirtualized, he looked into Xana's red eyes, and before he disappeared swore he saw a flash of blue.

--

Ulrich fell from his scanner with a gasp, landing on his hands and knees and clutching at his throat. After a moment he crawled over to the scanner he knew Odd would be exiting and stood, waiting for it to open. It seemed an eternity he waited before hit slowly slid open. Ulrich could only stare in horror at the sight that met his eyes.

The scanner was empty.

Ulrich looked around the scanner frantically, searching it for even the smallest sign of his missing friend. As he looked about frantically he noticed something on the bottom of the scanner that gave him a flare of hope. It was a blonde hair, tipped with purple.

"Jeremy!" he shouted, pulling the hair close, "Jeremy, start the virtualization process!"

--

Ulrich sat in front of the closed scanner, knees pulled up to his chest. He was staring at it so intently that he didn't notice the person exiting to elevator and crossing the room, coming to sit next to him. Yumi rested herself next to Ulrich, assuming the same position he was in.

"He is going to come out," Ulrich said without prompting.

"Ulrich," Yumi whispered, wiping at her eyes and resting her head on Ulrich's shoulder. "Jeremy said that if it was going to work, then we would have known within a few minutes. It's been six hours. He-he's not…he's not coming." Ulrich stared defiantly at the scanner, wishing with every fiber of his being that Yumi was lying. But she wouldn't lie, not about something like this. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he realized this, and Ulrich let his cheek rest against the top of Yumi's head.

"I know."

**I don't know about you, but had a sniffle or two writting the end of this chapter. So like I said, just the Epilogue left, then the sequel.**


	18. Epilogue

**So here we go, the Epilogue (this is like, later on in life, about ten years later).**

Ulrich's eyes snapped open with a gasp, the boy shooting upright. He breathed hard as the remnants of his nightmare slowly faded from his mind. He reached out, his hand searching blindly across the bed in the dark. It bumped into a second hand, which Ulrich grasped tightly. He held on for a moment, then let go, rolling out of his bed.

As quietly as he could he crept away from the bed and his slumbering wife. Silently he pushed the door to their balcony open and stepped out into the fresh air. He felt his head immediately begin to clear. With a sigh Ulrich walked towards the balcony's railing, leaning against the wrought iron and gazing out over the city.

As he gazed, his thoughts returned to his dream. It was one he hadn't had in awhile. In fact, last time he'd had it, he was still in school. It was strange.

"Bad dream?" a voice whispered, causing Ulrich to jump. He turned to see that his wife had appeared beside him, without him ever hearing her approach.

"Yumi, you know you shouldn't sneak up on me like that," Ulrich said, a hind on his chest. "You about gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," Yumi said, a smile on her face. It vanished when she noticed Ulrich's expression. "So, bad dream?" she asked again. Ulrich nodded. "Want to talk about it?"

"It was that dream again," Ulrich whispered. "You know, the one about…"

"About Odd?" Yumi asked gently. Ulrich nodded.

"Yeah. But it was different this time. It started the same, with me and Odd on Lyoko, fighting some monsters. We had just defeated them when Odd suddenly turns all dark as Xana takes control of him and he attacks me. I attack back, and our fight starts moving towards the edge of the virtual sea." Ulrich paused a moment, his eyes becoming distant.

"We fight hard, slowly getting closer to the edge," Ulrich continued. "We keep getting closer and closer. Until we get too close. Then I…I push Odd over the edge and he disappears into the sea." Ulrich sighed, looking down at his arms. "The dream usually ends there. But tonight it didn't. At the part where I would have woken up something caused me to turn around. When I did, I saw a little purple cat sitting behind me, watching me. It said something to me, I can't remember what, and then I woke up. It was really strange."

"But it was just a dream," Yumi whispered, putting an arm around Ulrich's shoulders.

"I know," Ulrich said, "but it felt so real."

"They always do," Yumi responded softly. Ulrich nodded, then stopped.

"Hey, Yumi?" Ulrich said, giving her curious look. "Do you think we did the right thing? With Xana, and shutting down the supercomputer?"

Yumi didn't hesitate with her answer. "I know we did. And so do you. We both know Odd wouldn't have had it any other way."

Ulrich nodded, a slight smile tugging at his lips. "Thanks Yumi."

"No problem," Yumi said, giving her husband's shoulders a squeeze. "Now come on, let's get some rest, shall we?" Ulrich nodded, and the two returned to their bedroom, both feeling more at ease.

--

While Ulrich and Yumi slept, someone on the other side of France was coming awake. A little processor, deep within the bowels of a much more complicated and masterful piece of technology, whirred quietly to life. It'll little fan began to spin, and little lights appeared across it as it started its secret little work.

Two floors above the processor a computer screen lit up. Random windows of data flashed across it for few moments, eventually giving way to one single window. It showed a picture of a dark figure. With a beep numbers began flashing across the screen, while behind them the figure slowly filled with color, as if loading.

It took a few minutes for the figure to finish filling in. Once it did the numbers stopped, vanishing from the supercomputer's screen. A few new windows popped open, showing all sorts of data and programs. A few calculations flashed about. And then the screen went blank, all of the numbers and images replaced with two lone words.

VIRTUALIZATION COMPLETE.

**Oooh, can you say Cliffy? Well, the sequel should make up for it! That's the good new. The bad news? I'm taking a week off to do a massive school project, so you don't get the sequel till' next Saturday. Hope ya'll stick around till' then!**


End file.
